Reputations count for nothing

The Arsenal skipper is relishing the chance to take on his boyhood club, where he played in the same youth team as Messi and Gerard Pique.

"I know they will be two exiting games," said the Spain international, who left the Nou Camp to join Arsenal when still only a 16-year-old in September 2003.

"We will, of course, give everything, and you know if you want to win the competition, you have to be ready to play anyone."

The clash against the European champions has captured the imagination of the Gunners fans, eager for a slice of revenge after losing the 2006 Champions League final against the Spaniards.

Arsene Wenger will, though, make sure his players are focused on the job in hand when Barcelona come to Emirates Stadium for the first leg on Wednesday night.

"When you get into the quarter-finals, you know you will face good teams, and you respect what your opponents have done," said the Arsenal manager.

"But competition is about what you do yourselves.

"We will make sure we have our belief and focus right."

Russian playmaker Andrey Arshavin was ineligible for last season's competition, when the Gunners reached the semi-finals before they were beaten by Manchester United.

The former Zenit St Petersburg midfielder is in no doubt if each and every one of the Arsenal players produce a performance, there is no reason why they should not progress.

"Everyone is looking forward to this game, and it will be tough, especially away," Arshavin told Arsenal TV Online.

"At this moment, Barcelona are playing very well and Lionel Messi is in good form, but we must play our own game, and see what will happens.

"We have to be focussed on our game - if we do not give a good performance, we will never beat them.

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"If we can show our best game, when everyone is together, we can beat them."

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Arsenal Ladies

Arsenal Ladies are the women's football club affiliated to Arsenal. Founded in 1987, they turned semi-professional in 2002 and are managed by Tony Gervaise. Arsenal Ladies are the most successful team in English women's football.

In the 2008–09 season, they won all three major English trophies – the FA Women's Premier League, FA Women's Cup and FA Women's Premier League Cup, and, as of 2009, were the only English side to have won the UEFA Women's Cup, having done so in the 2006–07 season as part of a unique quadruple.

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The men's and women's clubs are formally separate entities but have quite close ties; Arsenal Ladies are entitled to play once a season at the Emirates Stadium, though they usually play their home matches at Boreham Wood.


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Crest

Unveiled in 1888, Royal Arsenal's first crest featured three cannons viewed from above, pointing northwards, similar to the coat of arms of the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich. These can sometimes be mistaken for chimneys, but the presence of a carved lion's head and a cascabel on each are clear indicators that they are cannons. This was dropped after the move to Highbury in 1913, only to be reinstated in 1922, when the club adopted a crest featuring a single cannon, pointing eastwards, with the club's nickname.

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The Gunners, inscribed alongside it; this crest only lasted until 1925, when the cannon was reversed to point westward and its barrel slimmed down. In 1949, the club unveiled a modernised crest featuring the same style of cannon below the club's name, set in blackletter, and above the coat of arms of the Metropolitan Borough of Islington and a scroll inscribed with the club's newly-adopted Latin motto, Victoria Concordia Crescit "victory comes from harmony", coined by the club's programme editor Harry Homer. For the first time, the crest was rendered in colour, which varied slightly over the crest's lifespan, finally becoming red, gold and green.

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Manuel Almunia

Almunia signed for Arsenal for an undisclosed fee on 14 July 2004. He was given the number one after Jens Lehmann left for Stuttgart at the beginning of the 2008–09 season. In 2008, Almunia signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal.

Born in Pamplona, Navarre, Almunia started his senior career with Osasuna's reserve team in 1997, playing two seasons with the team in Segunda División B. He went on to spend two more seasons in the category, with Cartagena and Sabadell, joining the top flight in 2001–02, with Real Club Celta de Vigo.

However, shortly after joining Celta, Almunia was loaned out to Segunda División side Eibar, where he spent 2001–02 as first-choice goalkeeper. During the 2002–03 season, Celta loaned him out to first-division club Recreativo de Huelva, where he played understudy to José Antonio Luque and César, only making two league appearances. Almunia's debut in the first division came on 17 November 2002, following a red card to the latter, in a 0–3 defeat at Deportivo Alavés.

He then returned to Celta, being loaned for the third and final time, now to Albacete Balompié on 1 November 2003. He made his club debut the following week, in a 1–0 loss at Málaga. Almunia achieved first-choice status, making a total of 24 league appearances until the end of the season, while helping Albacete finish 14th.

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