Mesut Ozil: Arsenal must be ice-cold in front of goal against Barcelona

1/6
James Benge16 March 2016

Mesut Ozil has urged his Arsenal team-mates to be “ice cold” in front of goal if they want to overturn their two goal deficit in Barcelona.

No side has overturned such a disadvantage after a home match in the European Cup or Champions League since 1969 but Arsenal have refused to concede on their homes of winning a knockout tie in the tournament proper for the first time since 2010.

Unlike many of his team-mates Ozil at least knows what it is like to win at the Nou Camp, having done so with Real Madrid with a 2012 victory seeing an intelligent, disciplined Jose Mourinho side taking their chances on the counter with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the winner.

“I’ve played there before. It will be very loud, the fans will support the team,” Ozil told the club website. “Our goal has to be to make our game. The most important thing for us is to believe in ourselves.

Arsenal vs Barcelona: Player Ratings

1/23

“If we believe in ourselves and take our chances - last time we had chances but didn’t score - [we can do it]. We have to be ice cold in front of goal. If we have a chance, we have to score against such a big team.”

Arsenal emerged with plenty of credit despite Lionel Messi’s two late goals making their task almost impossible.

However Arsenal have raised their game against the toughest of opposition already this season, stunning Bayern Munich at the Emirates to claim a famous 2-0 win. Ozil played a critical role in that result, scoring the second in the dying minutes.

Ozil urged his team-mates to do much the same if they are to secure an even more unlikely result.

“Every player knows that against the biggest clubs, we have to show our quality. Every player wants to play against the best team, so we have to have the opportunity to come to the next round.

“In football, anything can happen. Our goal has to be to win the game.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in