Thierry Henry named his three ‘favourites’ to win the Champions League following Arsenal’s dominant display against Atletico Madrid.
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Henry’s former club Arsenal continued their flawless run in this season’s Champions League with a commanding 4-0 triumph over Atletico. ..Continue Reading
The match at the Emirates Stadium remained goalless through the first half, but Arsenal took control after the interval, netting four times in just 13 minutes.
Brazilian duo Gabriel Magalhaes and Gabriel Martinelli gave the hosts the lead before Viktor Gyokeres snapped a nine-game goal drought with a rapid double.
Arsenal are among only three teams with a perfect record in Europe after three matches, though Bayern Munich and Real Madrid could match their nine-point tally on Wednesday.
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Mikel Arteta’s men reached the semi-finals last season, falling to eventual champions PSG, but Henry thinks they have the potential to go further this year.
CBS Sports presenter Kate Scott disclosed that Henry considers Arsenal one of the three ‘favourites’ to win the Champions League, alongside Bayern and defending champions PSG.
‘Thierry spoke about Arsenal in very high terms and obviously put them besides Bayern Munich and PSG in terms of favourites for this competition now,’ she said while inviting Jamie Carragher’s opinion on Arsenal’s Champions League prospects.
‘Do you see it similarly, Jamie?’
Carragher, who won the Champions League with Liverpool in 2005, responded: ‘Right now I think Arsenal and Bayern are the two most impressive teams I’ve seen when you look at their performances domestically and what they’re doing in the Champions League.
‘I’ve said before on this show that I’ve never had Arsenal down as a Champions League club.
‘I know that might sound obvious because they’ve never won it before but I’ve always thought there’s something about them that doesn’t connect, they’ve never really gone close.
‘Thierry’s [Arsenal] team was the best team I ever played against in the Premier League and even that team didn’t come close enough to winning the Champions League. It wasn’t that team that got to the Champions League final.
‘I do look at this team now and see how strong they are defensively. My Liverpool team that won the Champions League were not a great team attacking-wise but we were strong defensively.
‘That always gives you a chance, especially when you get to the knockout stages and the two-legged ties. If you’re strong defensively you’ve always got a chance.
‘So, yeah, I see Arsenal as one of the four or five teams that can win this competition.’
Arsenal manager Arteta expressed satisfaction not only with the team’s dominant win but also with Gyokeres’ contribution after ending his scoring drought.
‘I am very pleased,’ Arsenal’s £64m summer signing told UEFA. ‘They had some good opportunities but I think we controlled it overall.
‘To score four and keep a clean sheet again is very good. We always keep going. We do the things right when we defend and when we get the chances we are extremely strong in taking those.
‘Both [my] goals were great. I try to do my best all the time and work hard, contribute with different stuff and the goals would have come sooner or later.
‘We want to do well, we want to win football matches but there’s a long journey to go. We will take it game-by-game, even if that sounds boring.’
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