By Daily Sports on February 23, 2016

Managers of Barcelona of Spain and hosts Arsenal of England are talking tough ahead of today’s UEFA Champions League showdown in London.

Luis Enrique has warned Arsenal they will be left spell-bound when he unleashes his bewitching forwards during the match.

Enrique’s side head to the Emirates Stadium for the last 16 first leg on a 32-match unbeaten run in all competitions and with their front three of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar having scored 91 goals between them this season.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger labelled Barcelona as “not far from perfect” this week, calling the three-pronged attack a collection of “top, top class” players.

And Enrique, looking to lead the Champions League holders to a sixth European Cup crown, says he only has to say the magic words to get the best from his star names.

“I tell them ‘abracadabra’ and the magic sparks – that is all I do!” Enrique told reporters on Monday.

“I always work really hard and I always had the chance to have plenty of good strikers in my squad, it is quite simple, quite easy.

“In some situations you don’t even have to wish what you would like them to do, they already do it. We have to work hard so our midfielders can give them the ball.

“We all have the same targets and we know how difficult it is to achieve those targets. I’m delighted with those three and also with the squad.

“I have three great players, they are the chosen ones, they are eager to win and every two or three days they have new motivation. I see them training and I’m delighted to be their manager.”

Meanwhile, Wenger is adamant that Arsenal will find the net against Barcelona in tonight’s tie.

The Gunners will start as underdogs when they play hosts to the reigning champions, having failed to score in four of their last seven games in all competitions.

Barcelona are on the hunt for their second consecutive treble under Luis Enrique, boasting Europe’s most feared forward line in the shape of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar.

And Wenger says keeping them quiet remains the priority for Arsenal if they stand a chance of reaching the next round, admitting conceding an away goal in the Champions League is like a “knife in your heart”.

“I think we will score so I am not too concerned,” he said. “It’s true that recently our goals have dried up a bit and we have to find a way to get that going again. But I am more concerned about stopping them from scoring because at home in the Champions League nil-nil is not a bad score.

“We have always made it difficult for ourselves in previous years by conceding goals at home and the rules of the modern European Cup encourage teams to defend at home and attack away because of the importance of the away goal.

“Many times I have said that should be suppressed because if you concede a goal at home in the Champions League it’s a knife in your heart every time. Against big teams it becomes very difficult.”

Arsenal have bowed out of the first knockout stage in each of the last five seasons but while Wenger has put importance on keeping a clean sheet in the first leg, he has dismissed the idea that he will switch to a more defensive-minded team against Barcelona.

“It’s against my nature,” added Wenger.

“I cannot go into a game and think I will just play for a zero-zero. I don’t believe you can say you are a big club and just want to defend.

“On the other hand, Barcelona are a very offensive team so to give ourselves no chance at all of scoring against them would make us guilty as well.

“We have to try to score against them because if they have a vulnerability, like us, it is defensively, as it is with any offensive team.”

•Pieced together from AFP and Goal reports. Photo shows Barcelona Coach Luis Enrique.

Source Daily Sports

Posted February 23, 2016

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