Arsenal will play Sporting CP in the Champions League quarter-final (PA)
Jason Cundy believes Arsenal ‘are not on the same football level’ as Paris Saint-Germain but insists Mikel Arteta’s side can still win the Champions League this season.
Arsenal remain the only unbeaten team in the Champions League this term after their 3-1 aggregate victory over Bayer Leverkusen in the last-16.
The Premier League leaders will now play Sporting CP in the Champions League quarter-final with the first leg of their tie against the Portuguese side to be played next Tuesday
PSG, meanwhile, needed to beat Monaco in the playoffs to reach the Champions League last-16 but Luis Enrique’s side impressed in their 8-2 aggregate win over Chelsea last month.
Arsenal’s hopes of winning the quadruple this season ended before the international break with a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final.
Cundy maintains Arsenal can still win the Champions League but claims Arteta’s side are ‘nowhere near’ the level PSG have shown.
‘We [the Premier League] are an unbelievable league but the truth of it is the last couple of seasons the league is actually pretty goal,’ Cundy told talkSPORT.
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‘I watched PSG [against Chelsea], all jokes aside, that is a football team, a proper football team. Don’t rely on long balls, don’t rely on set-pieces, don’t rely on long throws, they are a proper team.
Paris Saint-Germain beat Chelsea 8-2 on aggregate in the Champions League last-16 (Shutterstock)
‘Last season, they were the best side I saw in any competition and they went on to win the Champions League.
‘But that doesn’t necessarily mean to say that Arsenal, who have had their criticism, aren’t capable of going and doing what they’re doing in the Premier League and overpowering teams.
‘I’ve got no love, I hope Arsenal fall at the last every time, but you’ve got to appreciate a good side, you’ve got to appreciate what they do and they do it well, dark arts and all that.
‘I’ve said this, I want my side Chelsea to be more like them. I want to be more like Arsenal. I want the dark arts, go down in the box, throw yourself down, goalkeeper’s holding his head.
Champions League quarter-final draw
Paris Saint-Germain vs Liverpool
Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich
Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid
Sporting CP vs Arsenal
‘Arsenal can go on and win this Champions League by being who they are. But if you’re talking about a football club and a football team, PSG have embodied everything, they are just a brilliant team, moving the ball, creativity.
‘Going forward, Barcelona, that’s the beautiful game, the way they move the ball through the thirds, Arsenal are not that team and that’s okay, you don’t have to be like that.
‘What I saw [PSG beating Chelsea] was just an eye opener. They are miles ahead of anything in the Premier League in terms of football, PSG, no team can touch them with the ball at their feet.
‘And Arsenal, as good as they are, they’re not on the same level as a football team as PSG, nowhere near it, but Arsenal can do it in a different way and they’re going to have to find a way.
‘Liverpool have got to find a way. From what I’ve seen of Liverpool this season and PSG in the Champions League, I don’t think they are capable, I genuinely don’t think they are capable of matching PSG because they have got the lot and they are ruthless, utterly ruthless.’
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