Football pundit Micah Richards believes Arsenal will 'batter' Barcelona if the two teams face off in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Arsenal are currently scheduled to face Sporting in the quarter-finals of the competition, while Barcelona have a heavy task of their own - facing Atletico Madrid in the repeat of their Copa Del Rey clash from earlier this year.
Should the two teams advance to the semi-final, they will face each other, and it will be interesting to watch that tie unfold in real time.
Richards believes that Arsenal will expose Barcelona's high line and score multiple goals past Barcelona, should that tie happen.
Micah Richards' Barcelona claim may do Arsenal more harm than good
He said: "Arsenal would beat Barcelona. If Barcelona play that high line then Arsenal would absolutely batter them. Martinelli, 100 per cent, would absolutely love to play against that without doubt.
"Even Gyokeres, he’s not the quickest but he’s a strong runner, all his goals before at Sporting, that’s what he used to do, so I think if they play a high line against Arsenal, Arsenal would absolutely batter them.”
In theory, it does look like an interesting idea and tactic. And, to give full credit to Arsenal, they might actually be the strongest equipped team to beat Barcelona from their bracket - and will be in the conversation for it among the eight teams in general, too - but it is far easier said than done.
People have talked about Barcelona's high line for two years now. Real Madrid fans talked about how they will feast on it with Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr, while in reality, they have only won once since Hansi Flick joined Barcelona and adopted the high line.
So many teams have had moments where they could have won due to destroying their high line, but Barcelona simply outscored them.
Obviously, Arsenal are not most teams, and are also, at the moment, performing better than Real Madrid have in the last two years.
Their defense is also rock solid, which will help them in their pursuit of a clean sheet against one of the best attacks in the world.
However, it is worth noting that Richards, with this statement, has put a lot out. He has put the Arsenal boys under pressure to 'batter' Barcelona, and has also said something that will act like fuel for these Barcelona players if and when the two sides clash.
Obviously, as good as Arsenal are - and they are probably better than Barcelona at the moment - it will not be an easy task at all to break the Catalans' high line and press. It will be even more difficult for Arsenal to contain their front three, and Richards definitely has not done them any favors.
