Gio expects greatness

"You will never see a Barcelona team who play defensively. It should be a great final with a lot of chances for both teams," the Dutchman said.

"The philosophy of both teams is the same as we want to play attractive football and I think we have both done that so far.

"So I expect this final will be something special because normally you have one team that plays a bit defensively, but now you see two teams that like to attack so it should be a very attractive game."

The final in Paris will be the first time the Dutch international has faced Arsenal since moving to Catalonia.

"It's special enough to be involved in the final of the Champions League but to play against your old team mates makes it even more special...before the game there will be a lot of friendly talk but things will obviously different once it starts."

Van Bronkhurst fancies his side's chances but spoke of his admiration for Arsenal's run in Europe this season.

"We are confident in our team but we have a lot of respect for Arsenal as they have played really well in the Champions League this year," he said.

"I've seen a lot of Arsenal games on TV and it was amazing when they had the good run in the league and the Champions League that they were missing a lot of important players.

"The young players who came in did really well like (Cesc) Fabregas, (Phillippe) Senderos and (Mathieu) Flamini. I think they have great potential to become even better and I don't think the Arsenal team has peaked yet."

The former Rangers player thinks Thierry Henry could be the key for the Gunners and would be keen to link up with him in the summer if the rumoured move to the Nou Camp becomes reality.

"He's very important for them. He can link up very well with other players and can score his own goals too," he said.

"There's a lot of talk about him maybe leaving Arsenal and coming to us and if he decides to leave Arsenal hopefully he will come to us. A player of his stature and quality would be welcome at any team in the world."

Gio however knows his team has its own talisman - World Player of the year Ronaldinho.

"Ronaldinho is the face of this team," he said. "He is the best player in the world at the moment and he's very important to us in the way he creates chances for other people and the way he scores goals. He's the sort of player that every team would want to have."

"Barcelona have only won the European Cup once and for a club like this that's too little, especially when you look at the players who have played here."

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