Gareth Barry names club that will deny Arsenal the Champions League

Premier League legend Gareth Barry has backed Arsenal to reach the Champions League final but believes they will miss out on the trophy.

The Gunners finished top of the Champions League group stage with a flawless record of eight successive wins.

Mikel Arteta’s side beat Bayer Leverkusen in the last round and meet Portuguese champions Sporting in the quarter-finals.

Arsenal travel to Lisbon on Tuesday night for the first leg, before the Emirates Stadium hosts the decisive return leg next Wednesday.

The Gunners are favourites to progress at the expense of Sporting despite suffering back-to-back defeats, losing to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final and then crashing out of the FA Cup against Championship side Southampton.

If Arsenal to advance, they will face La Liga giants Barcelona or Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals, and ex-Premier League midfielder Barry expects them to reach the final.

The other side of the draw involves European powerhouses Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Champions League holders PSG.

Barry believes PSG will reach the final from that side of the draw and says he would fancy the French champions to ‘edge’ out Arsenal for the trophy.

‘In the last round, PSG did look really good, back to the form of last year,’ Barry told BoyleSports. ‘They’ve grown into it and look back to their best.

‘I think Arsenal and PSG are the two that I fancy possibly going all the way.  Winning the title would massively take the pressure off Arsenal and they’d probably go into that game feeling a lot better about themselves and have a much better chance of winning it.

‘Arsenal vs PSG would be a tough final, but I think PSG, they’ve got players that are made for those big, big games, so I’d probably edge towards them.’

The Gunners has aspirations of clinching a historic quadruple a matter of weeks ago but fell short in the two domestic cup competitions.

Arsenal boast a nine-point lead in the Premier League title race and still have a chance to lift the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history.

But ex-Arsenal captain William Gallas cannot see his former club becoming European champions, claiming the Premier League title will be the only trophy Arteta gets his hands on this season.

‘I think Arsenal will win one trophy and that’s the Premier League,’ Gallas said.

‘They still have to be careful but normally they would win the Premier League from this position. Champions League? I don’t think so.’

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