Arsene Wenger has insisted that his side are highly motivated to win the UEFA Champions League.
The closest the Gunners have ever come to lifting the trophy was in 2006 when they were narrowly defeated by Barcelona in the final.
But Arsenal have come nowhere near reaching those heights in recent years, having been knocked out in the round of 16 for five consecutive seasons.
Last season, it was Ligue one outfit Monaco who inflicted further disappointment on Wenger’s men, winning on away goals to progress through to the quarter-finals.
And the Frenchman admits that there is a lot of work to do for his side to turn their European misfortunes around.
If we missed one game last year, then it was our home game with Monaco.
We were not patient enough and we wanted to make the difference in the first game.
We know we have some way to put it right, that is a regret of the season last year.
We know as well that we can show that we have learnt from that.
Arsenal begin their latest Champions League campaign away at Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday night and Wenger is adamant that his players have the desire to go all the way in Europe’s most prestigious competition.
This drive [to win the competition] is immense. It has never been done at Arsenal and we were very, very, very, close.
On the other hand, I have been long enough in the job to know you have to be realistic and know that you have to put hard work in.
