Arsene Wenger: ‘Arsenal must find way to stop Luis Suarez’

Arsene Wenger has warned his Arsenal players that they must find a way to keep Luis Suarez quiet if they are to have any chance of overcoming Barcelona in theChampions League.

The two sides faces off in the first leg of their last-16 tie at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night, five years on from their last showdown in the elite competition.

Barcelona head into the game on the back of a club-record run of 32 games unbeaten, thanks in large to the form of attacking trio Lionel Messi, Neymar and former Liverpool striker Suarez.

Wenger says that particular attention will have to be paid to Suarez, who has lit up the division this season with 25 goals already.

“When you see someone like Messi who could score his 300th goal give the ball to Suarez, that means there’s really something in there,” he is quoted as saying by the Daily Mail. “Camaraderie. I believe Suarez gives that to a team.

“He did it at Liverpool. He did it for Uruguay playing with [Edinson] Cavani and [Diego] Forlan. They played together and it worked. Suarez is the kind of guy who manages to create that spirit in teams.

“We have to keep him quiet on Tuesday night. We have to analyse what we do and do it well and together. Individually all their players are difficult to stop. We have to find a way to do it collectively.”

Suarez spent three years at Liverpool prior to joining Barcelona in a deal worth around £75m in 2014.