Van Bronckhorst wary of Arsenal threat

GIOVANNI van Bronckhorst has warned his Barcelona team-mates that Champions League final opponents Arsenal are far from a one-man side.

The 31-year-old defender, who left the Gunners almost three seasons ago after an injury-dogged spell at Highbury, still follows his former side’s progress.

He accepts Thierry Henry is their key man and would welcome him with open arms if he decided to join Barca. But he also picked out players like Cesc Fabregas, Freddie Ljungberg, Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp and Robin van Persie as being real threats to Barca’s hopes of winning their second European Cup.

“Henry is a very important player for them, he can link up very well with other players and scores his own goals as well,” Van Bronckhorst said. “There is a lot of talk about him leaving Arsenal and coming to us. If he decides to leave Arsenal, hopefully he will come here. A player of his stature and quality is welcome in any team in the world, but he is only one of the players we have to keep an eye on.

“Fabregas has developed tremendously over the past couple of years and along with him there are Ljungberg, Pires, Bergkamp if he plays, Van Persie, they have plenty of quality and can create a lot of danger.”

Despite this, Van Bronckhorst says Henry is as important a cog in the Arsenal machine as Ronaldinho is at Barca. “Ronaldinho is the face of this team. He is the best player in the world at the moment and he’s very important to us. The way he creates chances for other people and the way he scores goals makes him the sort of player every team would want to have.

“In comparison, I think Henry is a more specific striker, he plays behind the front man and likes to give the killer balls. They are different, but their importance for their clubs is the same. I would want both in my team and I think they could play together as good players can always do that.

“I’ve played with both and it is a joy to see them play and to play alongside them.

“That’s why fans go to the stadiums to see those types of player.

“At the moment we have (Samuel) Eto’o who is our top scorer and he is very fast, as well as other players, and Henry may be coming. We couldn’t play them all, but it would make us stronger throughout the season.”

Van Bronckhorst has not looked back since leaving Arsenal, winning back-to-back Primera Liga titles and reaching the final of Wednesday’s showpiece.

However, he is looking forward to renewing acquaintance with some of his former team-mates.