Barcelona are more beatable than ever before - Wenger laments last 16 defeat

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Barcelona are more beatable than ever before - Wenger laments last 16 defeat - The Catalans strolled to a comfortable 5-1 aggregate win over Arsenal in the Champions League round of 16, but the Gunners boss is adamant they have regressed in recent years.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes Barcelona have got worse in recent years and are now more beatable than ever before.

Luis Enrique's side defeated the Gunners 3-1 at the Camp Nou on Wednesday to seal a 5-1 aggregate victory in the Champions League round of 16.

But despite winning by a convincing margin, Wenger feels the Spanish and European champions have gone backwards and that Premier League clubs will soon be able to compete in the Champions League again.

When asked how England's top flight can succeed in European competition, Wenger replied: “By getting the players here. Football belongs first to the quality of the players.

“I believe that with more income in England the best players will slowly all come to England and that will be the answer.

“They [teams from other countries] have already dropped off. For years in England we were always in the last [stages], sometimes you played an English team in the quarter-final and the semi-final of the Champions League. I believe we'll come back again.
“These teams [like Barcelona and Bayern Munich] are not uncatchable, and the regret I have about the two games against Barcelona maybe they were more beatable than ever before. They are not so much out of reach.”

The Arsenal boss believes Premier League outfits are victims of a strong domestic league, where they are pushed all the way in the hunt for honours.

Paris Saint-Germain have already wrapped up the Ligue 1 title in France, while Barcelona and Bayern Munich are likely to retain their championship crowns this term.

"They can walk through the games before they play against us," Wenger added. "Barcelona played on Saturday with a team [Getafe] who after 20 minutes were 3-0 down.

"They have problems to sell out in Barcelona because there is no championship anymore. They can select how much they go for it. In the Premier League you cannot.”

Arsenal will be aiming to keep their slim hopes of lifting the Premier League title alive when they travel to Everton this weekend, a game that takes place at lunchtime on Saturday.

The Gunners have had a quick turnaround after only returning to London from Barcelona on Thursday, but Wenger refused to criticise the broadcast schedule.

"I wouldn't say it's the fault of TV if we go out [of the title race], I don't believe that at all,” he said.

"Does the schedule in England help or not? Overall no. But it's not an excuse because we dealt with it before, we had English teams playing in the final of the Champions League before with the same schedule.

"The TV does not pay all that money and then say: 'Oh, finally, we pay you and we don't want an audience.' It's not an excuse, we have squads of 20 or 25 and it should be enough. I could change six or seven players between Watford and Barcelona. It's not too bad.”

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