Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has dismissed any chance of Arsenal producing a remarkable comeback to beat Barcelona in the last 16 of the Champions League.

A 2-0 loss at the Emirates in the first leg means that Arsenal have a mountain to climb in the return leg at the Camp Nou. Their recent exit from the FA Cup coupled with poor domestic form in the league mean that the Champions League gains more prominence than ever. However, Arsenal have already suffered several exits at the hands of Barcelona previously at this stage.

Ferdinand expects more of the same since Barcelona are unstoppable right now. The Catalan club are unbeaten in the last 37 matches and come on the back of a fresh 6-0 thrashing in the la Liga. Their attacking power has been so immense this season that any frailties in the defence do not appear to concern them much.

The attacking trio of Neymar, Lionel Messi, and Luis Suarez have together scored more than a 100 goals between them. After having had just one win – against a Championship team – in the last five games, Arsenal are not expected to get anything and once again are expected to crash out at the last 16 stage.

“Do I give Arsenal a chance? No, not at all.They have got to go there and score three goals to win outright and not concede. Well tell me the last team that did that?How do you defend against Messi, Suarez and Neymar? You pray quitea lot – even if you’ve got a Manchester discount card! The problem with those three is that they can tear up a teamtalk within seconds. It’s almost impossible at the moment to stop them given the amount of goals they are scoring,” said Ferdinand. Arsene Wenger, though, remains confident about his team’s ability to come back into the tie.