Wenger striving for perfection

Arsène Wenger believes Arsenal FC's progress to the UEFA Champions League final has taken the club to another level on the worldwide stage, but the Frenchman is still not satisfied.

Spanish flavour
The English club have eliminated Real Madrid CF, Juventus and Villarreal CF en route to Wednesday's meeting with yet another Spanish side, FC Barcelona, at the Stade de France, and Wenger says his team's success this season shows how much they have developed. "Many people were saying that their 'dream final' was Arsenal against Barcelona, which acknowledges that they think we play good football," he said. "With the excitement this game provokes, Arsenal have become a bigger team throughout the world but of course you always want more and we want to be recognised as a team who can win the biggest trophies."

Mental preparations
Having guided the club to the final of the European Champion Clubs' Cup for the first time, Wenger is on the brink of a historic achievement and he wants to make sure his players are in the best possible shape for Wednesday night. "My biggest job is to get the team in the right frame of mind, to make sure they are focused and determined to do the job. You cannot correct everything, you just want to keep the team going as well as they can and prepare them mentally."

Fourth-placed fillip
Arsenal have already secured a berth in the third qualifying round of next season's competition having overhauled north London neighbours Tottenham Hotspur FC to wrest fourth place in the Premiership on the season's final day, and Wenger hopes that achievement will enable his players to relax more in Paris. "We'll play under less negative pressure now; it should give us some more positive vibes to go into the final and of course it is an advantage to be already in the qualifying stage for next season. For me, it has a positive impact."

Henry homecoming
Inevitably, much of the pre-match attention will focus on Arsenal's French captain Thierry Henry, whose future is yet to be resolved with Barcelona suggested as one potential summer destination. Wenger is attempting to ease the burden on his prolific striker, explaining: "Thierry has a responsibility in these kind of games that he certainly will not deny and he has an advantage in that he knows Paris and the Stade de France. The big players will be under pressure to perform but personally, I don't want too much pressure on Thierry; if we play well as a team, he will be automatically good. If we do not play well as a team, Thierry will suffer. My main concern is that the team plays its game and then I'm not worried about Thierry."

Final hurrah
Henry is not the only Arsenal player who could be making his farewell appearance, with Dennis Bergkamp retiring in the summer and the futures of a number of others shrouded in uncertainty. Their manager, however, is concerned only with the here and now. "On an occasion like this, it is winning the trophy that counts; you don't care what happens the next day or the day after that," said Wenger, who has developed a reputation for putting faith in young players. "The main thing is to win and then what happens, happens. What is important is not what might happen in one or two months, it is what we achieve together. We have prepared for the present and the future and the future is ahead of schedule." The present, however, has the chance for one last hurrah on Wednesday evening.