Wenger: We’ll prove we belong

ARSENE WENGER has warned Barcelona that Arsenal are desperate to prove the divide between themselves and the greatest team in the world has vanished.

The rivals meet in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie at the Emirates Stadium tonight in an eagerly-awaited repeat of last season’s quarter-final, when Arsenal were humbled 6-3 on aggregate.

The encounters pointed to a gulf in class but Wenger insisted that over the last 12 months the Gunners, who welcome back Samir Nasri from injury, have been transformed.