Alves seeks away goal

Barca ace hoping team-mates score at The Emirates

By Francisco Acedo   Last updated: 31st March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Alves seeks away goal

Alves: Seeks away goal

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Dani Alves insists that Barcelona will be gunning for an away goal when they tackle Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League.

The European giants meet in the quarter-finals of the competition with the first leg being played at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium.

Barca come into the game on the back of four consecutive Primera Liga wins, although Arsenal are strong on home soil in Europe having won all five of their games to date.

The meeting between the teams is their first since Barcelona claimed the Champions League title with a 2-1 success over Arsenal in the 2006 final in Paris.

Alves admits the pressure will be on Barca to progress to the semi-finals of the competition and set up a possible meeting with Inter Milan or CSKA Moscow, although the expectations are nothing they cannot handle.

Pressure

"We're the favourites and there is extra pressure on us, but this is normal," he told skysports.com. "We might be champions, but we're not guaranteed to reach the semi-finals.

"The tie will be decided in Camp Nou, although we want to boost our chances of success in London.

"In Europe there are no easy games. However, if we play our normal game with our normal rhythm then we should get a positive result.

"Every match is different and La Liga is not the Champions League. Against Osasuna we struggled to break down their defensive system, but I'm convinced Arsenal play a different kind of football.

"If the English side fail in trying to control the ball then we'll score goals. I'm sure.

"Our aim is to score in London and to pressurise the Gunners. We're improving our form in La Liga and we need to take that form into the Champions League.

"I'm optimistic as always and for me Barcelona will be in the semi-finals of the Champions League."