Barca set their sights on Arsenal

Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola has told his players to forget anything beyond Tuesday’s Champions League showdown with Arsenal.

Barca host the Gunners in the second leg of their last-16 tie at the Camp Nou on Tuesday, needing to turn around a 2-1 aggregate after the Spanish giants were felled at the Emirates.

The Catalan club, who were bundled out in the semi-finals by eventual champions Inter Milan in the 2009/10 tournament, are aware of how perilously close they sit to a shock elimination at the hands of the Gunners.

But Guardiola has insisted his players must forget the Champions League race and narrow their focus to merely beating the English Premier League club on the pitch.

“When you play these types of game there is always pressure, it’s present in the minds of the players,” Guardiola said.

“But, like in the semi-finals last year against Inter and in all the knockout competitions that you play, you have to focus on the game.”

“The rest is not important. There is pressure, of course. If we lose then we go out of the competition.”

“But we will concentrate on what we have to do to beat (Arsenal), the way we have to play and the behaviour we have to show on the field to beat them.”

“That’s all that’s important in these types of games.”

The Barca boss also delivered a backhanded compliment to Arsenal starlet Jack Wilshere, saying the England international is a good player and similar to many in Barcelona’s reserve team.

“Wilshere is a top player and has been a big surprise,” Guardiola said.

I didn’t know him at the beginning of the season but I’ve now seen him many, many games, including of course in the first leg.”

“He’s an excellent player. We have players like him in the second team; it’s very good news at a football level to have a kind of player like him.”

Arsenal’s hopes of upsetting Barca at the Camp Nou could hinge on the return of captain Cesc Fabregas, who is adamant he has recovered from his hamstring injury in time to line up against his boyhood club.

“For the last six days I haven’t felt anything (in my hamstring), I’ve felt good,” Fabregas said.

“I’ve been training outside. It was a very small thing that I had, the problem is muscular and sometimes you can take a big gamble and come back to soon.”

“I have a lot of experience with that so I prefer to be safe. I know that I’m good if selected to play and that’s it, that’s the reality.”