Never seen before, Arteta blames Messi for Arsenal's Champions League failures

This Wednesday Arsenal will begin their journey in the knock-out stages of the UEFA Champions League. After an almost perfect group stage, in which they were leaders with four wins, one draw and one defeat, they will now have the challenge of advancing to the quarterfinals, something they have not achieved for a long time. For them it will not be an easy mission, as they will face Porto, one of the best teams in Portugal.

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However, English fans are confident that the team will show in the European tournament the same excellent performances that allowed them to reach third place in the Premier League standings, where they are fiercely competing with Liverpool and Manchester City for the title. But the statistics are not in their favor: The Gunners have not advanced to the quarterfinals of the Champions League for fourteen years. And that's not all: in their last seven appearances, they were eliminated precisely in the round of 16.

Coach Mikel Arteta was a protagonist in many of those games when he was still a player, so he knows well how important this Wednesday's match against Porto will be. At the pre-match press conference he said: "We have earned the right to be here. We haven't been here for seven years and haven't got to the next stage for 14. We are excited to go for it with full belief."

But then he surprised everyone by trying to explain the reasons for so many years of failure in the world's most important club tournament. In particular, he took aim at one star: "Someone called Messi was another obstacle as well and Bayern Munich. This competition is what it is. It comes down to details and you need your players at their best."

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What is he referring to?

One of Arsenal's worst nightmares in the Champions League is Barcelona. They have faced the Catalan side four times in knock-out stages in the last 20 years and always lost. The most painful of those defeats was the final of the 2005/06 season. But then they were also eliminated by Los Blaugranas in 2010, 2011 and 2016, with Lionel Messi showing exceptional performances.