Wenger delighted with Monreal's Arsenal debut

Feb 2, 2013 9:00:00 PM

The French boss praised how effortlessly the €8 million signing had coped with the physicality of Stoke, and was equally thrilled with Theo Walcott's committed performance

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger expressed his delight with the performance of debutant Nacho Monreal after the Gunners' 1-0 win over Stoke at the Emirates Stadium.

The north London club had to wait until the 78th minute to open the scoring, but Wenger was impressed with the Spaniard’s seamless transition - as well as the resilience of Theo Walcott - in the face of a very physical Potters side.

"There’s no better culture shock than Stoke when you come from Spain, because of course they have a very physical game, and I think [Monreal] dealt well with it," the French manager said after the game.

"The satisfaction is that Monreal had a good start for a player who just arrived yesterday and is in the team today. He had no time to think about it, but overall I felt he got stronger and stronger during the game."

Walcott had to receive treatment several times in the match, and though Wenger did not feel Stoke were overly aggressive, he was disappointed with the lack of protection given to the 23-year-old.

"I feel overall Theo Walcott got good treatment today," Wenger said dryly. "But I am very happy because the way he responded to it was with full commitment and desire to impose himself and that’s where you see today that Walcott has become a different player recently and he’s shown that today."

The Arsenal boss also brushed off any doubts over the legitimacy of his side’s goal, with Lukas Podolski’s deflected free kick initially being ruled out before referee Chris Foy overruled his assistant.

"I haven’t seen it from the bench what happened," Wenger added. "I thought the linesmen had given offside, I couldn’t see anything else, or maybe somebody from us had handled the ball, that’s all I could think.

"But in fact I have heard that Walcott was offside but he was not interfering with the game, then it’s a normal goal."

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Champions League final - LIVE!

German giants Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund will battle it out at Wembley for European glory. Get involved by sending us your thoughts via Twitter or Facebook! Hosted by Mark Doyle.

5:03 PM BST

We’re still awaiting the confirmed line-ups but if you’re looking for the likely starting 11s, let me point you in the direction of our match preview. Also, if you want an excellent and entertaining analysis of tonight’s fascinating final, well, how does a James Richardson-hosted debate involving Jonathan Wilson and Paulo Sousa tickle your fancy? The prince of puns, a true titan of tactical thinking and a two-time Champions League winner - a veritable dream team, I think you'll agree.

4:59 PM BST

The injury-enforced absence of Dortmund’s Bayern-bound playmaker, Gotze, is of course the principal talking point in terms of team news. The 20-year-old’s unavailability is clearly a hammer blow for die Schwarzgelben, but, as team-mate Kevin Grosskreutz pointed out this week, Dortmund destroyed Bayern in last year’s DFB Pokal final without Gotze.

4:54 PM BST

But what do the fans think? Well, yesterday Goal’s roving reporter Kris Voakes went along to the Uefa Champions Festival, which is being staged at the Olympic Park in Stretford, and he spoke with supporters from both sides.

Johannes, Munich, told Goal: "We haven't lost to Dortmund this season, and though we lost two finals [in 2010 and 2012], we are hoping the third time is a charm.

"Last year the English stole our trophy," interrupted his friend Benjamin, "but we are going to take in back to Munich where it belongs."

But Dortmund fan Nicolas says the loss of Mario Gotze to injury is not too much of a concern for Jurgen Klopp's side: “We have Marco Reus and Robert Lewandowski, and yes, we will be fine without Gotze. We will win 2-0.”

4:44 PM BST

However, Dortmund simply cannot be discounted. They relish the role of underdogs and are not in the least bit afraid of their illustrious rivals, having now gone six Bundesliga games without defeat against die Roten. The last time these two met in a final, in last season’s DFB Pokal, Dortmund ran out 5-2 winners. As coach Jurgen Klopp pointed out this week: “We’re not the best team in the world, but we can beat the best team in the world."

4:43 PM BST

Bayern, of course, start as overwhelming favourites to prevail this evening, and understandably so. Not only did they mercilessly batter Barcelona into a shockingly tame capitulation at Camp Nou, they are also coming off the back of a record-breaking Bundesliga campaign which they finished a staggering 25 points clear of runners-up Dortmund, whom they are unbeaten against in four meetings this season.

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