Arsenal vs Barcelona: Keep Mesut Ozil quiet and Gunners are ‘practically dead’, says Thierry Henry

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Simon Johnson22 February 2016

Thierry Henry says Barcelona will kill Arsenal’s slim hopes of causing a Champions League upset if they keep Mesut Ozil quiet.

Arsenal take on the holders in the first leg of their last-16 tie at Emirates Stadium tomorrow night.

Ozil has been Arsenal’s best player this term, with six goals and 17 assists in all competitions and Henry, who played for both clubs, says he is key to any chance Arsenal have of going through.

Henry said: “If you can stop Ozil, Arsenal are practically dead. Barcelona have to stop Mesut because he is now doing incredible things. He has a ton of assists. He is playing very, very, very well. He is playing the way he used to at Real Madrid. He had two very difficult seasons but right now he’s doing very well. I think Arsenal will play as they did against Bayern Munich at home [when they won 2-0 in the group stage]. They will defend and try to score goals on the counter-attack. It’s not so easy to control the ball against Barca.

“They have to do something at home if they want to go to the Nou Camp and have a chance because I know how it is there.

“When the people are there on a Champions League night, it is not so easy to defend for 90 minutes. It’s going to be very difficult for Arsenal.

“I see Barcelona winning. It is not going to be easy but I see Barcelona going through.”

Arsenal have been beaten in the knock-out stages by the Catalan Giants three times in the past decade.

They also lost the final in 2006, in which Henry played for Arsenal, as well as a quarter-final in 2010 and a last-16 tie in 2011.

But Henry feels Arsene Wenger’s side, who are challenging for the Premier League title, are a much stronger proposition this term and added: “They really fight. I think before Arsenal weren’t able to win if they didn’t play well.

“But this year, they are winning games without playing well and sometimes without even having the ball. It happened against Bayern, against Manchester City, against Manchester United.

“Before Arsenal had to have the ball in order to win, now they can win without the ball.”

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