Arsene Wenger is confident Arsenal can reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League despite the possibility of facing holders Real Madrid in the next round.
The Gunners will learn their Champions League last 16 opponents on Monday with a possible tie against Benfica, Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen, Real Madrid, Porto or Sevilla.
Arsenal have fallen in the first knockout round for the last six years and he said: “I don’t know who decides the luck but I haven’t found the way to speak to this person!
“You look at the teams you can get, some look more prestigious, more difficult, and you would like me to say ‘I do not want this or that’. But that will already put us in an inferior position if it happens.
“Yes, you can take Real Madrid as maybe a favourite to win, because they are the holders of the competition. But even against Real Madrid, we’ll have a chance to qualify and we’ll have to do the absolute maximum to achieve that. It’s another inconvenient fact for us that we haven’t qualified for the quarter-final for six years. That will be a huge challenge for my group but I’m sure we will relish that.”
Meanwhile, Arsenal could have Hector Bellerin available for Saturday’s Premier League home game against Stoke.
The teams who have qualified for the Champions League knockout round
The Spaniard faces a late fitness test after training this week following an ankle problem.
