Thierry Henry names the two teams Arsenal will want to dodge in the Champions League draw

Joe Williams 14 Mar 2024 8:31 AM

Thierry Henry during his role as a TV pundit.

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry has named two teams that the Gunners will want to dodge in the Champions League quarter-final draw this week.

The Gunners overcame Portuguese side Porto on penalties in midweek after drawing 1-1 on aggregate after extra time in their last-16 clash.

Who will Arsenal want to avoid on Friday?

Mikel Arteta’s side will be joined in the quarter-finals of the competition by Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Barcelona.

The draw will take place on Friday and Henry thinks it is Real Madrid and Manchester City who will represent the toughest test, although the Arsenal legend insists there are no easy games at this stage of the competition.

When asked whether Bundesliga giants Dortmund are one of the ‘weaker’ sides left in the competition, Henry told CBS Sports: “I’ve been in both situations as a player where sometimes people didn’t want to play us with Arsenal and we didn’t go really far, and we had a team when we went to the final I don’t think was our best team at Arsenal.

“I remember when we drew Real Madrid everyone laughed because they said, ‘Arsenal are the team you want’, and we Juve and everyone said, ‘that’s a good draw for Juve’, then we played Villarreal, who were a good team at the time, then they aid, ‘it’s good to play Arsenal’, then obviously we couldn’t win the final.

“I’m just saying, you can never disrespect anyone in Europe.

“There are two teams there who can be cocky – it’s Real Madrid and Man City, that’s about it. The others, you just take who you can play.

“Man City are the team to beat still, for me. I know Pep, it’s not how he’s going to take it, I was just putting it out there.

“Me as a player, I’ve been in too many situations to know that sometimes the so-called team who was easy to play against is not the case, you arrive and people think, ‘you’re going to win it easy’, no, that’s not really the case.

“So the champions can talk – Man City – and then Real Madrid, we already know they have 14, other than that, let’s see what’s going to happen.”

Martin Odegaard: We want to be on the biggest stage

But Martin Odegaard insists Arsenal won’t head into the Champions League quarter-final draw fearing anyone after a brilliant season.

When asked if there was anyone he wanted to avoid in Friday’s Champions League draw, Odegaard said: “To be honest, we can’t think like that.

“It’s the biggest tournament in the world and, no matter what team we get, it’s going to be a good team. We will just take what we get and we will try to win.

“That’s where we want to be. We want to be on the biggest stage. We want to play the biggest games and fight for the biggest trophies.

“When I came here I believed in the project, in the club, what they were doing, everything around the club, I believed in it – and now we are here doing well.

“We just have to keep pushing each other and make sure we get a little bit better every day. We will see where it takes us.”

Arsenal Thierry Henry