Wenger - Why I’d love an all-English Final
Although an all-English Champions League Final would be “fantastic” for the Premier League, the rest of Europe might not be so pleased. That’s the opinion of Arsène Wenger.
Half of the teams in Friday’s Champions League draw were English and, unsurprisingly, two of them were drawn against each other.
Liverpool and Chelsea will meet again while Arsenal and Manchester United were drawn against non-English sides. But they will meet in the Semi Final if both are victorious in the last eight.
That makes the prospect of an all-English final very real. In fact, if Chelsea can overcome Liverpool and then beat either Barcelona or Bayern Munich in the Semi Final, there is a possibility of an all-London final, provided Arsenal are successful.
Wenger thinks that such a scenario would prove the quality in the Premier League and rejects that the rest of Europe is “bored” of England’s recent domination.
“It would be good for England but maybe not liked by the rest of Europe,” the manager said. “I would say it would be fantastic for England because it would show in the country we work well and the quality of our game is maybe the best in Europe.
“I believe what you want to see is quality. When you had four Spanish clubs in the Quarter-Finals I didn't think that was boring. I just asked what do they do differently to us, to get that success.
“The rest of Europe will not want us to repeat this success but it will be down to our quality.
“Let’s get one step at a time. We have learned a lot from our experience in the Champions League and I have learned one thing - you cannot miss five minutes in any of the two legs in the Quarter Finals, no matter who you play.
“Take our game against Liverpool, you could never predict what happened in that.”
