Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has stressed that there will be no room for sentiment when he takes on former club AS Monaco in the last 16 of the Champions League tomorrow night.
The Gunners will host the principality club at the Emirates Stadium in the first leg of the tie, with Wenger gearing up for a reunion with the Ligue 1 outfit having spent a successful spell there at the start of his managerial career.
However, the 65-year-old insists that he will be fully focused on guiding his current club to success in the two-legged affair as Arsenal look to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament for the first time since 2010.
"I am professional, I am competitive and as much as I respect Monaco I am focused on doing my job well. I give my best to win the game, respect for your opponents means you give your best - if I play against my brother, it is the same, that is part of our job," Wenger is quoted as saying by PA.
"I have never stopped working, so I have never had the time to reflect. But if I look at the history of my life these are the two who have been crazy enough to let me work.
"They both had to be brave because it wasn't obvious for Monaco to take me on or for Arsenal to employ me. I have a lot of respect for that."
Wenger won the Ligue 1 title, the Coupe de France and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League during his time in charge of Monaco.
Barney Corkhill
