Arsenal will never have a better chance of beating Barcelona

Arsenal players celebrate a goal

The Spanish giants are red-hot favourites and knocked Arsenal out in 2010 and 2011 as well as defeating them in the 2006 Champions League final in Paris

Arsene Wenger has claimed Arsenal will never have a better chance of knocking out Barcelona.

The Spanish giants are red-hot favourites and knocked Arsenal out in 2010 and 2011 as well as beating them in the 2006 Champions League final in Paris.

But Wenger is convinced the Gunners stand a genuine chance and has urged his players to show patience, discipline and not to go too gung-ho tomorrow night.

The Arsenal boss said: “It’s our best chance no matter how big the chance is. We have to take it and have a go at them. I believe in these big games, in the first tie at home, we can’t be stupid.

“Many times we’ve won away and at home we have conceded. We have to find a good balance between defending and attacking.”

Wenger has also backed Alexis Sanchez to rediscover his form as the ex-Barcelona striker has scored just once since returning last month from his injury lay-off.

Sanchez was poor when he came on as a substitute against Hull in the FA Cup. And Wenger admitted the forward was not in the right mindset in that game, but believes he will be fired up against his former club.

He said: “I don’t think he was completely ready to come on. It looked like that but he grows with the game.

"He has a game based on risk and when he’s completely highly tuned in, it becomes dangerous. Don’t worry about Tuesday, he will be tuned in.”

Arsenal now face a fixture backlog after drawing against Hull in the FA Cup. The Gunners would prefer the replay on Sixth Round weekend but Hull may not agree.