Robert Pires knows exactly what it means to win silverware with Arsenal. The Gunners' legend spoke to SPORTbible exclusively and revealed that he believes the team have an advantage when it comes to winning the Europa League this year.
During Robert Pires' time at Arsenal the French winger won the Premier League twice with the Gunners and was part of the incredible Invincibles who went a whole league campaign unbeaten.
Pires added two FA Cup wins to his silverware collection and also reached the final of the Champions League final, where the Gunners were beaten by Barcelona in the final.
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The former winger was no stranger to the Europa League either having played in the competition, as the UEFA Cup with Villarreal and Marseille, where he reached the final in 1999.
We spoke exclusively with the 44 year old about the Europa League and his former clubs chances in the competition. He revealed that Unai Emery's three titles in a row in the tournament with Sevilla give them advantage:
"The key, I don't have the key because the Europa League is very difficult, it's very competitive but Arsenal is one of the favourites." said Pires
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"The advantage for Arsenal, it's because they have Unai Emery and this manager has won some titles with Sevilla.
"I think for Arsenal it was very difficult for them to pick a good manager and Emery is that good manager."
Pires thinks the competition is really important, adding, "I hope it's one of the objectives for Arsenal. Because if you win this competition you go straight for the Champions League so that's why I think this competition is important for the club, for the players and even I think for the new manager."
The Frenchman's time in the Europa League never ended in success but he had good times with Villarreal and Marseille in the competition, "We had a good memories. Unfortunately we didn't win. I had a bad memory with Marseille as well, we lost the final in 99 against Parma. But I think I understand all the teams and the players want to play Champions League but the Europa League it's very important because you play to win and reach the trophy like this," Pires said.
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Arsenal kicked off their Europa League campaign with a win over FC Vorskla Poltava with a 4-2 win last month and face Qaarabag FK away on Thursday night before back-to-back games against Sporting.
Robert Pirés is working with UEFA Europa League partner Enterprise Rent-A-Car on their Legendary Journeys campaign. To discover more and to enjoy special rates on car hire across Europe, visit www.enterprise.co.uk.
Topics: Football News, Unai Emery, Europa League, Premier League, England, Arsenal