Monreal's Arsenal in peak condition for Monaco

Having first ventured into the UEFA Champions League with Málaga CF, left-back Nacho Monreal is sufficiently experienced to be able to judge his Arsenal FC team's chances of last-16 progress against AS Monaco FC in a tie that begins today. And the 28-year-old former CA Osasuna man tells UEFA.com that the Gunners may be peaking just in time to make an impression on the knockout rounds.

UEFA.com: You have been with Arsenal for just over two years. How are you enjoying playing under Arsène Wenger?

Nacho Monreal: I feel very lucky to have such a great coach. He has years of experience and recognition on the world stage. It gives me a lot of satisfaction to be able to work with him day in, day out. He is a very patient coach and he treats all the players very well. He is pretty calm.

UEFA.com: What else distinguishes Wenger as a coach – how does he get the best out of players?

Monreal: I think, above all, he is very intelligent. He knows at every moment what he wants and what the players need. Furthermore, he gets along very well with the youngsters. He has the respect of all the players, which is very important. He knows the players and that is all transferred by us onto the pitch.

UEFA.com: Arsenal are a naturally attacking side. What are the challenges of being a defender in this system?

Monreal: In the end any team is determined by the quality of players it has. And in attack we have world-class players like Mesut Özil, Santi Cazorla, Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott. We are an attacking team because we have the means to play like that. But that means we have to be well-organised in defence, when we have a lot of people attacking. We have a lot of experienced players as well, most of us play for our national teams, and that makes us a pretty complete team.

UEFA.com: Did you always want to play in this position?

Monreal: When I started to play football, I was a forward. Then step by step I moved back towards defence. When I was 15 or 16, I had a coach who put me at left-back and from there I learned the position. Then you start to have role models – the one who had the most influence on me was Roberto Carlos.

UEFA.com: And this progression from forward to full-back took place at CA Osasuna?

Monreal: Yes, I went to Osasuna aged 13, from a club where I had been playing up front. But then every year I moved back, from forward to left wing, then to midfield, and then at 15 or 16 to left-back

UEFA.com: Your UEFA Champions League group stage debut was with Málaga against FC Zenit in 2012/13, in what was the club's first match in the competition proper ...

Monreal: Yes, it was a very special day. At the time we were playing for a club where everyone wanted to go, the club were doing well. I remember we started from scratch, had new signings in the team and had a fantastic season. We ended in fourth place, which meant we qualified for the Champions League preliminaries – and we got through them and qualified. And then my full competition debut, in our stadium, hearing the Champions League anthem ... it was a historic night for the club. We won 3-0, so it was a marvellous night.

UEFA.com: Now you are at Arsenal, a team that consistently reaches the knockout stage ...

Monreal: Well, with Málaga the objective was to qualify for the Champions League; with Arsenal it is an obligation to qualify. The two years I've had at Arsenal and in the Champions League have been really enjoyable and exciting. Unfortunately, both times we've qualified for the round of 16 we've played Bayern Munich, who are looking to win the Champions League. So unfortunately both times they've beaten us. Now we have another chance against Monaco and hopefully we can get through.

UEFA.com: How do you assess the Monaco tie?

Monreal: Well, we are in a good spell. We have been winning most of our matches and have been playing well. We know the Monaco tie is pretty even, it's 50-50. We play the first match at home and hope we can play the way we want and hopefully achieve a good advantage.

UEFA.com: What do you put Arsenal's good form down to?

Monreal: We were just missing a bit of consistency at the start of the season. We played some very good matches, but then played some matches less typical for Arsenal, so we dropped points at the start of the season. We have been trying to make up for that and since Christmas the team have been playing well. We look fresh, we have a clear idea of how to play and you can see the results. We've only lost two matches from the last eight, the rest have been wins. Now the Champions League is coming up, we want to continue with the dynamic we have.

Our aim is to get as far as possible, we are ambitious, though we are aware there are teams who are favourites. Compared with last year, I think we are in better shape than against Bayern. This year we have players like Alexis Sánchez who is helping us a lot. If we have a bit of luck in terms of injuries, our coach will have something to choose from and the team will be a lot more competitive.