The Football Insider With Mikael Silvestre: Arsenal Can Be European Kings

There is no doubt that when it comes to my career the club people most think about is Manchester United as I spent a long time at Old Trafford and in that time, we achieved so much in the game.

But this week I wanted to turn your attention to my other former club, Arsenal, and the chances of them spectacularly ending the season with a Champions League victory that very few people would have thought possible.

The first-leg 3-0 victory over Real Madrid was a massive statement from Mikel Arteta's men and for me, the second leg will be about Arsenal keeping it very, very tight in the first half and hopefully going into the break scoreless.

If Madrid get that early goal, we all know what they can do when it comes to overturning first-leg losses and it will make Arsenal very nervous. The Madrid fans will be going crazy and with the forward line, they have all of a sudden you can be a couple of goals down with your head spinning on what is to come next.

Bu the truth is Arsenal could have won by even more on Tuesday and it was a truly magical performance on a magical night at the Emirates.

Overall, I think three goals is a lot and I expect the English team to come out on top and head into the semifinals. They might even nick a goal on the break and if they do that then it would be game over.

It is shaping up to be a great Champions League this year and any of the teams left would be worthy winners.

Looking at it both Inter and PSG are in with a real chance as in Inter's case they can stay compact and beat anyone and with PSG you have a young team who given the chance can blow you away.

A key to Arsenal's chances will be Declan Rice who had a commanding 90 minutes against Real and who capped that off with a pair of stunning strikes – something we have not seen from him before.

If he keeps bossing the midfield in the semifinals then any team will fear Arsenal, who are also looking very tactically sharp in Europe.

So if Arsenal are able to dispose of Real – which looks highly likely – then they must be ranked one of the favourites to go all the way - even though in a one-off final anything can happen you have to believe Arteta has the cunning to get the job done with a side many have written off in the last few months.

It would be a special win for Arsenal as they have had many strong Champions League campaigns going back plenty of years, without ever getting the job done.

And what better way to set yourselves up for a Premier League title challenge next season than coming in as Kings of Europe?

(Former French defender Mikael Silvestre won five Premier League titles with Manchester United. He was also part of the United team that won the 2008 Champions League title)

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