Arsenal's FA Cup victory can serve as platform for Champions League success, claims Arsene Wenger

 
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Doug Revolta9 March 2014

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes his side’s FA Cup quarter-final victory over Everton can spur them on to overturn their 2-0 first-leg deficit against Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

The win at the Emirates on Saturday saw the Premier League title-chasers see off their third-successive top-flight opposition in the FA Cup this season.

Romelu Lukaku equalised for the visitors following Mesut Ozil’s opener, but Mikel Arteta and a brace from Olivier Giroud helped Arsenal secure a 4-1 victory.

Hunting their first trophy since 2005, Wenger thinks overcoming their difficult cup run shows the desire his team have to win some silverware.

"People have questioned our desire to do well in the FA Cup many times, but we are in the semi-final now and from our performance on Saturday, you can see we really want it," Wenger said.

"We took this competition seriously. Since the start of this competition it is true that we had a good draw in the fact that we played all the games at home, which is the first time [that this has happened] since I played in the FA Cup.

"But, on the other hand, we played difficult opponents - Tottenham, Liverpool, Everton and that shows you that we have taken this competition seriously."

Arsenal’s attention now turns to the Champions League on Tuesday at the Allianz Arena as they take on a formidable Bayern Munich side fresh from thrashing Wolfsburg 6-1 away on Saturday.

That win saw the Bavarians record a 16th consecutive victory in the Bundesliga to move 23 points clear of second place Borussia Dortmund, with 10 games left.

Despite the difficult task facing Arsenal, Wenger remains positive and hopes their FA Cup victory can inspire them in Germany.

"The win over Everton was the perfect platform to go into a game where the statistics go against you, but let's be inspired by our FA Cup performance and go to Bayern and try to repeat that,” he said.

"I am convinced we will have a real go."

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