Pirès pumped up for Arsenal reunion

Three years ago Robert Pirès was part of the Arsenal FC XI that beat Villarreal CF to reach the club's first UEFA Champions League final. Now the midfielder plays for the Spanish side and is relishing his first encounter with former manager Arsène Wenger after the teams were drawn together again.

Tight tie
A 41st-minute Kolo Touré goal in the last-ever European game played at Highbury proved enough to settle the 2005/06 semi-final in Arsenal's favour, though Jens Lehmann had to save a penalty from Juan Román Riquelme in the closing moments of the second leg in Spain. Neither side has gone as far since, and in their quarter-final rematch Villarreal will be at home on 7 April before travelling to London eight days later.

Pirès thrilled
Pirès, who left Arsenal for Villarreal after the defeat in the 2005/06 final by FC Barcelona, sounded delighted by Friday's draw. "It will be the first time I've played against them," the 35-year-old said. "I'm really looking forward to going back, albeit to a new stadium. It's going to be a tricky tie. As a Villarreal player, the only thing going through my head at the moment is knocking them out."

'Contrasting styles'
He added: "We are teams with contrasting styles but also with top-quality players. It's not the best thing to be playing the return leg away from home but if we perform like we did in Athens we can get through. They, and the manager in particular, will be happy to have a great player like Cesc Fàbregas back again."

Fàbregas boost
The imminent return of the north Londoners' captain, who has been out since 21 December with a knee injury, is indeed a boost for Wenger. "Cesc should be fit in two weeks – he is back in full training and in the international break he has two weeks to sharpen up," the Arsenal boss said. "We now have many players going away for international games and I hope we don't lose players to injury, but we have players coming back from injuries so we are in a good situation."

Not favourites
Both teams sit fourth in their domestic leagues although Arsenal's recent form has been more inspiring than Villarreal's. Wenger, however, is wary about reading too much into that. "It is not really important," he said. "I believe in this game there is no favourite. If we look at the newspapers to see what they have said about us in the last six months, you cannot say we are favourites." The winners will play Manchester United FC or FC Porto on 29 April and 5 May.