Arsenal thrash Porto
Arsene Wenger says he is hoping to draw an English team and get some revenge during the quarter final stage of the Champions League.
His Arsenal side romped to a 5-0 win over Porto last night and showed why they are still the best football side in Europe when they decide to get the ball down and play football.
Niklas Bendtner scored a hat trick as the team did not look as though there were any hang overs from the first leg defeat they suffered on a long and miserable night in the Portuguese city.
Wenger said: “I have a funny feeling that maybe it is good for us to play an English team. We have not done well against Chelsea and not done well against United this year, and it will be a good opportunity to show that we can do it against them.”
“It’s a good opportunity if we get them to show we can do well. If I had a choice I would say yes. If we get them we cannot do worse than we did in the championship, we can only do better.”
“It shows first of all how quickly football changes, but I hope it will not give him too much confidence. I’m happy for him because he had a good game on Saturday but missed chances, and today he had less chances and scored three goals.”
“It’s good for his confidence, but I hope it gives him the desire to work even harder. His confidence level is always stable. He has the size and presence we need. We’re usually a short team, so someone with size is important, offensively and defensively.”
Arsenal are a very difficult side to try and predict when they play in Europe. They are capable of performances like this but they are equally capable of falling short when teams work them out and counter attack their style of play.
Wenger may say that he wants to play an English side but deep down there will probably be a small part of him that hopes to avoid the possibility. For now they will bask in this latest glory.
Bendtner added: “Sometimes it’s one of those days [against Burnley] and today I put it right. I’m happy with my hat-trick, but tomorrow we move on.”
“It will give us a lot of confidence. We want to win the Champions League. It’s something we haven’t done. We scored all our chances today, which is very positive.”
Arsenal are still fighting for glory in the Premier League as well as Europe and there may come a point in the near future where the club have to focus on trying to win just one.
Their squad is not big enough to win both of these competitions and Porto were one of the weaker teams left in the running to lift the Champions League trophy.
Arsenal need to stay grounded after this win because it will be easy to get carried away with the score the way it was.

