Despite Barcelona being as close to perfect as you can get, according to Arsene Wenger, the boss still reckons Arsenal have learned a thing or two since facing them in 2011.

Arsene Wenger had high praise indeed for the La Liga team in his pre-Champions League press conference on Monday. However, he does think that we’ve learned a few things since facing them in 2011, where we won 2-1 at home but were knocked out at Camp Nou.

“Barcelona are super favourites in this game,” Wenger said.

“No team is perfect, although they are not far from it Barcelona, I must say. But we have a good opportunity to show that we have learned. It’s true that we gave ourselves a difficult task every time after the first leg [in recent years], maybe because we were too keen to make the difference in the first game.

“Therefore we have to find the right balance between being audacious, because that’s what we will need to be against Barcelona, and being strong defensively as a unit and not put ourselves in front of a very difficult task in the second leg.”

511686304 arsene wenger manager of arsenal looks on gettyimages
ST ALBANS, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 22: Arsene Wenger, Manager of Arsenal looks on during an Arsenal training session ahead of the UEFA Champions League match against Barcelona at London Colney on February 22, 2016 in St Albans, United Kingdom. (Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)

Although we’re a different squad now, whether we’ve collectively learned anything from our previous Champions League endeavours remains to be seen. We’re usually fine at home but it’s traveling that seems to make us completely implode and this is something that still happened in the group stages this season.

We may well be okay against the Catalans on Tuesday. However, the bigger test is how we’ll be in Barcelona. That remains to be seen.