David Villa
The striker though insists the Spaniards have to take all their chances if they are to go through.
Barcelona striker has insisted that his team can easily get the better of the North London club, when the two exponents of attacking football face off, in the second leg of the Champions League. Arsenal has the lead, though it has been canceled out by a crucial away goal by David Villa. Going into the second leg Barcelona are slight favorites for this one, though Arsenal can nullify their advantage with the one goal lead.
The Spanish champions began the scoring in the first half of the first leg against the Gunners at the Emirates, but couldn’t hold on to the lead and were tired out by a strong willed young Arsenal club who staged a dramatic comeback to win the game 2 – 1 and making it all to play for in the second leg on the 9th of March at the Nou Camp.
The World Cup winner with Spain feels that the team from Catalonia played well and was unlucky to be defeated. Though he feels they can take down Arsenal at their home.
“I think that if we play like we played in London and do things like we did there, we are on the right track for a victory.” Villa was quoted speaking to the reporters.
“We will go through to the next ground, I am sure of it, because we were far better in everything just the result didn’t go our way. We were unlucky.”
We missed a lot of chances and the former Valencia man feels they have to put away their chances in order to ensure qualification to the last eight of the Champions League.
“We need to perform better than we did, most importantly in the goal scoring department. We missed a lot of chances though. We just need to work on that and we will safely go through.”
Barcelona will definitely be missing Victor Valdez who is out for the Arsenal game, though he is fighting hard to be fit in time for the game, Gerrard Pique will definitely sit out with suspension. Barcelona Captain Carles Puyol who missed the first leg through injury, will be fit in time for the game against the Gunners.
Arsenal is having injury concerns too. Theo Walcott is out injured and looks certain to miss the tie and also the Carling Cup final on Sunday after being stretchered off. Dutch forward Robin Van Persie and French defender Laurient Koscielny were also down with injuries and couldn’t play a part in last night’s 1 – 0 victory against Stoke. Though it’s not sure whether they will be playing a part in the league cup final against Birmingham city. The duo is expected to be fit in time for the return leg at Camp Nou. Arsenal Captain Cesc Fabregas played only fifteen minutes of the tie after having a hamstring knock, he is rated doubtful for the Carling Cup final, though he has said he will do everything possible to play the game and accomplish his dream of leading Arsenal in a cup final, even if the Spanish ace misses the game on Sunday, he is expected to be on the plane to Barcelona, the place where he was born and brought up, played as an amateur, play against the club he supported as a kid.
Tags: Arsenal, Barcelona, Champions League, David Villa, Emirates, Football, Gunners, Nou Camp, Striker
