Micah Richards believes Arsenal would ‘batter’ Barcelona in the event that they met within the Champions League semi-final.
Mikel Arteta’s side secured their place within the Champions League quarter-final with a 2-0 win against Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday night and they’ll now face Sporting CP.
If Arsenal beat the Portuguese side, they are going to then play either Barcelona or Atletico Madrid for a spot within the Champions League final on May 30.
Barcelona produced an excellent second-half display to seal a 7-2 win against Newcastle United this week but Richards claims the La Liga leaders could be convincingly beaten by Arsenal in the event that they played the identical high line of defense.
Richards also believes Arsenal ‘wouldn’t lose sleep’ in the event that they were beaten by Manchester City in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final.
‘Arsenal should not going to approach the sport [the Carabao Cup final] and play a second-string team, by no means,’ Richards told The Rest Is Football.
Your football fix
Metro‘s Head of Sport James Goldman delivers punchy evaluation, transfer talk and his tackle the week’s biggest stories direct to your inbox every week.
Join here, it’s an open goal.
‘If you have a look at the Premier League, Man City have been off, we’ve talked about Chelsea and Liverpool, Man United are coming back stronger now, that is a possibility for them [Arsenal] to capitalise on two big trophies.
‘I have a look at the Champions League and the best way Arsenal play defensively, I said it a few weeks ago, they’ll win it, they might be certainly one of my favourites, they’ve a greater probability to win that because defensively and so they at all times nick a goal.
‘With the Premier League, I believed it could be closer now and I believed it could go to the Man City game but they’ve got the little edge on that now.
‘In the event you’re taking a look at Arsenal’s potential path to the Champions League final you’d take that every one day and then you definately’re considering you’ve got that little buffer within the Premier League, I’d be have a look at the League Cup considering it’s a trophy nevertheless it’s not the most important trophy. In the event that they were to lose that, I wouldn’t be losing sleep over it because they’re in an ideal position now to win two humungous trophies.
‘Arsenal would beat Barcelona. If Barcelona play that prime line then Arsenal would absolutely batter them.
‘In the event that they take it back five yards, Barcelona could absolutely batter Arsenal.
‘Martinelli, 100 per cent, would absolutely like to play against that doubtless. Even Gyokeres, he’s not the quickest but he’s a robust runner, all his goals before at Sporting, that’s what he used to do, so I believe in the event that they play a high line against Arsenal, Arsenal would absolutely batter them.’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the newest news on
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
MORE: Andoni Iraola makes ‘best within the Premier League’ claim about Manchester United ahead of Bournemouth clash
MORE: Julian Nagelsmann criticises Eddie Howe over Nick Woltemade position at Newcastle United
MORE: Trevoh Chalobah and Reece James injury update ahead of Everton vs Chelsea