Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola has suggested that Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere would only get into the Spanish club’s reserve side, ahead of their Champions League clash on Tuesday.

Guardiola admits he has been impressed by the teenage England international, who was outstanding in Arsenal’s victory in the first leg, but believes the Catalan giants have many similar young players currently learning their trade in the second team.

“Wilshere is a top player. He has been a big surprise. I did not know him at the beginning of the season,” Guardiola said. “He is an excellent player, not just Arsenal, but also for the national team. We have many players like him in our second team. It is very good news for football to have players like him.”

The tactician rejects suggestions the Gunners are too mentally fragile to be successful, however. While Guardiola has enjoyed a deluge of trophies since being appointed Barcelona coach in 2008, Arsenal have been trophyless since 2005 and were recently defeated in the final of the Carling Cup by Birmingham to once again bring their mentality under scrutiny.

Wenger’s side remain competitive on three fronts though – including the Champions League, where they approach the last-16, second-leg tie protecting a 2-1 lead – and Guardiola believes the London side could be on the brink of sustained success.

“I keep hearing about the fragility in the minds of the Arsenal players, but I do not agree,” Guardiola said. “They are competing with Manchester United for the Premier League, reached the final of the Carling Cup and a few seasons ago were in the final of the Champions League.

“Arsenal are always in the top, when you compete every season at the top, it is because they are quality. Sometimes they sell players, but Arsenal always keep the same level. Many teams arrive at the top for one year, but then are finished. Arsenal are there every season.

“For many years they have kept up there, and that is the real merit. Yes, they lack something, but they are a young team. When they win the first time, they will change the mentality, they will realise they are good.”

Barca will be without both first-choice defenders Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique for the game at Camp Nou so midfielder Sergio Busquets will partner left-back Eric Abidal in the heart of defence.

Busquets has occupied the role on previous occasions and has no problem doing so again. The Spain international has also warned Arsenal they will not have it easy when a partisan Camp Nou crowd, in excess of 98,000, gets behind the home side.

“Wherever I play, I feel comfortable with all of my team-mates,” Busquets said. “I am always prepared, and last week I played in defence against Valencia.

“This will be different from the first leg – we will have the crowd support here from the first minute. We must not be nervous, because the game is 90 minutes and even 1-0 would be good for us.

“It would be great to have a result like last year, but we will have to earn it if we want to be in the quarter-finals.”

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Liverpool stiker Luis Suarez has bemoaned the fact the club has a barren fixture list just as he was starting to show fans what he is capable of.

Dirk Kuyt scored a hat-trick against Manchester United on Sunday but Suarez was the real hero at Anfield as he tormented United’s weakened defence all afternoon. Suarez’s mazy run in the area, where he beat three defenders to set up Kuyt for the easiest of openers, was on of the highlights of the Reds’ season.

But with Liverpool out of the FA Cup and Suarez ineligible for the Europa League, Suarez will play a maximum of two matches for his club over the next month.

“It is hard for me to get to the right level physically, so it will take some time before the fans see my best – but I’m working towards that every day,” Suarez said in The Sun.

Midfielder Lucas Leiva believes Liverpool have found themselves a “game changer” in the form of Suarez. The Uruguay international has played only four matches since his £22.8million transfer from Ajax at the end of January but already he has shown he could prove to be an incredibly shrewd purchase. His Reds career got off to the perfect start when he came off the bench for his debut against Stoke and scored within 15 minutes of taking the field.

And Lucas believes the impact Suarez has already had, with the promise of better to come in the future, has helped erase the memory of Fernando Torres’ departure to Chelsea for £50million – funds which were used to bring in the Uruguayan and club-record signing Andy Carroll.

“I don’t think Liverpool would pay 25million euros for a bad footballer,” joked the Brazil international, who enhanced his growing reputation with another composed display in central midfield against United. “He has already settled and looks like he has been here for a long time.

“He is really happy and we have helped him to settle, especially outside of the training ground. You have to give him the confidence to show what he can do and he has already shown what he is capable of doing.

“We are happy because when you lose a striker like Fernando you expect to have another one. He is a fighter, he has a lot of quality, is very strong and quick and can change the game. What he did against United was good, especially the first goal, where he did a great job.”

Kuyt has already backed Suarez to write his name into the Anfield history books.

“His influence since he arrived here has been really good,” said the Holland international. “He scored in his first game, he was very close to scoring against Wigan and he created a goal against West Ham for Glen Johnson. For him to be at his best after just a couple of weeks at the club is impossible. But he has shown the will he has to be a great player for Liverpool and I think there is a lot more to see and expect from him.”

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Nani will be out for up to a month as he recovers from the nasty gash on his shin caused by Jamie Carragher, and he is reportedly angry Manchester United did not publicly complain about the tackle.

United winger Nani left the Anfield pitch on a stretcher shortly before half time in his side’s 3-1 loss to Liverpool on Sunday as referee Phil Dowd handed a yellow card to Carragher for the studs-up lunge that opened up Nani’s left shin.

Nani had initially bounced to his feet to show Dowd the extent of the injury in an attempt to get Carragher sent off before collapsing to the ground in pain. Carragher reportedly went to apologise to Nani after the match but was first denied access to the United dressing room at Nani’s request, before the Portuguese ignored the Reds defender outside the room as he later left on crutches.

Due to the depth of the cut on his shin, Nani will be sidelined at least until April, according to The Sun. Nani said on Twitter: “I would like to thank supporters for their good wishes and I hope to be back really soon.”

But a number of British newspapers claim Nani is unhappy no one from the club publicly criticised Carragher for the reckless challenge. The club has imposed a media blackout while Sir Alex Ferguson fights a potential ban for his comments criticising referee Martin Atkinson for his performance in United’s loss to Chelsea last week.

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Arsene Wenger has outlined his tactical approach for Tuesday’s highly-anticipated Champions League tie at Barcelona, insisting Arsenal are not set up to defend in numbers at the Nou Camp.

Arsenal carry a 2-1 advantage into the round of 16 second leg after their come-from-behind win at the Emirates last month. Much of the pre-match discussion has centred on whether Arsenal will seek to simply protect their lead or try to extend it.

Last season, eventual champions Inter beat Barcelona 3-1 at home then parked the proverbial bus at the Nou Camp and progressed to the final by restricting the then holders to a 1-0 victory. Arsenal will certainly need to be more solid than they were in the quarter-finals last year when they were defeated 4-1 in Spain to lose 6-3 on aggregate.

Wenger, though, hinted Arsenal would not follow Inter’s blueprint because his team is incapable of reproducing the Jose-Mourinho-masterminded defensive masterclass due to their wealth of attacking talent. Wenger is mindful of the fact Arsenal do not have the extra goal buffer that Inter had and that a 1-0 loss would see the Gunners eliminated on away goals. The manager said he would take a goalless draw but is not expecting the match to play out that way, so he will send out his men to attack.

“It is a little bit of an illusion to go to Barcelona and think they will not score at all,” Wenger said. “So you have to think we want to score at least a goal. Is it realistic to go there to try to play a 0-0 from the first minute on? First of all it would be considerably against our nature and even tactically I don’t think it is defendable. We have not a team with 11 defenders who are happy to defend.”

Wenger believes a clean sheet is most likely unattainable on Tuesday night but he insisted he has total faith in his defence, pointing to their recent record in the Premier League as a sign of Arsenal’s increased tightness at the back.

“We have to fight against the preconceived ideas because the only way of thinking is that Arsenal cannot defend,” said Wenger. “I will just remind you that in the last 11 games we have seven clean sheets in the Premier League, we have conceded less goals than Man United, who have a very good defence. We can defend when we have to but we prefer to attack that is for sure.”

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