“I believe the target of anything in life should be to do it so well that it becomes an art. Football is like that. When I watch Barcelona, it is art” — Arsène Wenger, August 2009

It was Barcelona’s brilliance last season, as they passed and dribbled their way towards one trophy after another, that sustained and strengthened Wenger’s vision of how football can — and should — be played.

When it was put to him last summer that a team cannot hope to triumph through art alone, the Arsenal manager responded simply by asking: “Which club won everything last season? And do they play good football?”

Barcelona are everything to which Wenger aspires: artistic, creative, free-scoring, richly entertaining, largely home-grown and — here is the crucial part — richly successful. When they run out at the Emirates Stadium on March 31 for the first leg of a mouthwatering Champions League quarter-final tie, they will do as champions of Spain, champions of Europe, champions of the world — a daunting prospect for Arsenal, whose last trophy came in 2005.

For all the intriguing aspects to this tie — the return to North London of Thierry Henry, the “homecoming” of Cesc Fàbregas for the second leg at the Nou Camp, the chance to salivate over the talents of Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta and the incomparable Lionel Messi — the real challenge for Arsenal will be to prove that they, like Barcelona, can win trophies as well as the usual plaudits for artistic impression.

Until Arsenal prove otherwise, as they will hope to do twice in the space of a week at the quarter-final stage, they will be regarded as Barcelona Lite. That should be seen as a compliment, but it is backhanded; not only does Fàbregas, the Arsenal talisman and captain, struggle to get in the Spain midfield ahead of Xavi and Iniesta, but, unlike Barcelona, they do not have the capacity to take their game beyond the artistic, technical dimension to beat top-class opponents who are bigger, stronger, more experienced and, in many cases, better organised.

The encouraging thing for Arsenal is that, against Barcelona, they will face a team built on similar lines. Wenger had talked with bravado last week about the possibility of facing an English club in the quarter-finals, but in reality he will find a contest against Barcelona more appealing. At least he knows that Pep Guardiola’s team will, to an extent, allow Arsenal to play their own game; they may well flood the midfield, as Manchester United have done to great effect against Wenger’s side, but it will be with players similar to his own, such as Xavi and Iniesta — slight of body, but quick of mind and fleet of foot.

The problem for Arsenal is that their vulnerability to the counter-attack, which appears to be a product of their commitment to playing “the right way”, could be brutally exposed by a team of Barcelona’s ability. If Gaël Clichy had a torrid time against Nani when United won at the Emirates Stadium in January, what will happen against Messi? No matter how Barcelona line up, whether it is Henry, Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Pedro Rodríguez through the middle, there is a knife-through-butter quality to their attacking play.

The chinks in Barcelona’s armour are in defence. While Gerard Piqué has made spectacular progress since returning from United, Carles Puyol is an inspirational defender rather than a great one. Daniel Alves, the right back, is more an auxiliary winger; it will be interesting to see how he handles the unpredictable threat of Andrey Arshavin. Víctor Valdés is a competent goalkeeper, but he is no Iker Casillas.

Barcelona were beaten in the semi-finals by United two seasons ago and, but for an erratic referee in the second leg at Stamford Bridge, would almost certainly have fallen to Chelsea at the same stage last season, when Iniesta’s stoppage-time goal turned defeat into an away-goals victory. Over those four semi-final matches against United and Chelsea, Barcelona scored only once, but that was in part because they were suffocated by their opponents’ game plan. And when it came to the final in Rome last May, United were overwhelmed.

Arsenal, in any case, will not approach the tie as United and Chelsea did; it is simply not in their nature. They will attempt to play Barcelona at their own game. They will attempt to fight fire with fire, aware that the conventional wisdom is to use water. And they will hope that, with Fàbregas, Arshavin, Samir Nasri and Tomas Rosicky in their ranks, they can match Barcelona for artistry and creativity — and that Nicklas Bendtner, who scored a hat-trick against Porto in the last round, can take whatever chances come his way.

It can be done. For all their mystique, Barcelona are not a monster. It is tempting to go down the hypothetical route and wonder how they would cope if they were forced to swap leagues with Arsenal, leaving Xavi, Iniesta and Messi to face the kind of physical treatment that Wenger complains about against opponents such as Bolton Wanderers and Stoke City. There are some fairly brutal defenders in La Liga, as Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo would willingly testify, but there are not the incessant clashes and collisions in midfield that Wenger finds so abhorrent to his principles.

Wenger, you suspect, would love to be able to take his Arsenal team to La Liga, to allow his youngsters to flourish in an environment where the emphasis is on technique, not efficiency, where the football is beautiful and where artistry is indulged. But in the real world, Arsenal do not have the option of joining Barcelona.

The only way to go where he wants to take them, to cease to be Barcelona Lite and to become a leading European force in their own right, is to beat them. And if they do, the likelihood is that Inter Milan and José Mourinho — not an art lover, by all accounts — will be waiting in the semi-finals.

Tomas Rosicky believes Arsenal's UEFA Champions League quarter-final with Barcelona brings together two of Europe's most stylish clubs.

Friday's draw pitted together arguably the two most aesthetically pleasing sides on the continent in a rerun of the 2006 final.

Thierry Henry faces his former side in what is sure to be an emotional tie for the Frenchman, while Cesc Fabregas plays against the club with whom he was schooled.

The Gunners host Pep Guardiola's Spanish and European champions in the first leg on 31st March before facing a difficult return meeting on 6th April.

Rosicky, back to full fitness and in good form, is confident the two clubs will serve up an affair to remember.

"Fans should really be looking forward to this tie as it will be a crowd-puller," he told www.ismfootball.com.

"Both sides have the same football philosophy and desire to entertain football fans. Naturally, the players are looking forward to it as well."

With Rosicky now firing on all cylinders and Cesc Fabregras and Nicklas Bendtner back after niggles, the Czech schemer is encouraged by an almost clean bill of health. Although, he admits he would like to see long-term absentee Robin van Persie back in action.

"Definitely (it's encouraging), although we would love to have Robin back in action now," he added.

"As for me, I am ready to play this Saturday. My absence in the Hull game was not caused by any big trouble - just slight pain in my groin, but now I'm fit."

Cesc Fabregas and Lionel Messi are regarded by many as two of the best footballers in the world. But it is easy to forget that they played in the same youth team together.

The pair were both stars of a free-scoring Barcelona youth side along with Gerard Pique, according to Fabregas' mother.

After hearing news of the Gunner's Champions League Quarter-Final draw Arsène Wenger was asked who was the better player - Fabregas or Messi.

It is a debate which could keep football fans talking for hours. But the Arsenal manager wasn’t sure if a comparison could be drawn, though he did recount the story Fabregas' mother told him of their impact on the Barcelona youth team at the time.

"I think they are completely different players," said Wenger.

"What is interesting is that they played together in the youth team. When I spoke with Fabregas’ mother when she brought him here at the age of 16, she said always when they came home they won 6, 7, 8, 9-0 because always they had in the same team, Piquet, Messi, Fabregas. You are not surprised."

The manager also accepted that it will be a special match for Fabregas to take on his former club, but says the Arsenal captain will only have his mind on one thing.

"There will certainly be some emotion there," said the Frenchman "But Fabregas is a winner, he wants first to qualify.

"I believe Cesc goes into every single game to win it – if it was Barcelona or someone else, he will just want to qualify."