Thierry Henry has rated Arsenal’s chances of beating either Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals after the Gunners hammered PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday.
Mikel Arteta’s side stormed to an incredible 7-1 win away from home to put their last-16 clash to bed, meaning they can look forward to the quarter-finals and meeting with one of the two Madrid giants.
The first leg will be played at the start of April and Henry believes the possible returns of Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli before that clash gives them a decent chance of winning that tie, as does their ability to focus on it given Liverpool have run away with the Premier League.
“Yes, [Arsenal] can [give the Madrid teams a run for their money],” Gunners legend Henry said on CBS Sports. “I do believe that, this is why I called it.
“I’m just saying now, show us that you can do that against a good team, with people that are coming back [from injury].
“No disrespect to Eindhoven, I really thought it was going to be difficult, especially away from home but they made it look easy. I think they had an outstanding game as you can see with the result.
“But, we all know that the [Premier] League is over. Apart if something crazy happens but what I’m trying to say is that this game can help maybe to be confident in this competition but [also] the game that you have after, Real Madrid or Atletico.
“Sometimes I think the path to the final can at times help or not, but if you want to win the competition you have to go through these teams.”
Arsenal would be considered a Champions League underdog by most, and the Rest Is Football pundits named theirs on the latest podcast.
“I’ll go Bayer Leverkusen – are they underdogs? Is anyone really underdogs at this stage?” Gary Lineker said
“They’ve got Bayern Munich which is a massive game for them but I saw them play against Bayern a few weeks ago.
“It ended up goalless but Bayer Leverkusen outplayed them and if they dominate like that they’ll have a great chance.”
Alan Shearer went for Atletico Madrid, despite Diego Simeone’s side needing to overturn a one-goal deficit having lost 2-1 to Real Madrid in the Bernabeu on Tuesday.
“Without calling them an underdog, [I fancy] Atletico,” he said.
“I think that’s the toughest draw that Real Madrid could have had at this stage. It’s such a tough ask at this stage of the competition.”
Micah Richards went for Inter Milan, saying: “They were in the final a couple of years ago against City but there’s something aboiut them as a team.
“They play that three-at-the-back formation with the rotation in midfield. Martinez and Thuram up front and they have a great coach as well who just knows when to tweak things at the right time.”