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Enrique: Barca players make us proud

Cape Town - Barcelona manager Luis Enrique was delighted to see his side through to the Champions League quarter-finals with a 3-1 win over Arsenal at Camp Nou on Wednesday.

Goals from the famous trio of Neymar, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi saw Barca add to their 2-0 aggregate lead and sink the Gunners 5-1 on aggregate as they make their way to their ninth consecutive appearance in the quarter-finals of the competition.

Luis Enrique could not hide his delight at the achievement of this feat, insisting that this was proof that the team is doing well and credit must go to the players, who keep putting in impressive displays and making the club proud.

"Getting into the quarter-finals nine straight times means this club is doing well," Enrique said after the game. "It's due to the types of players that come up through the academy and the ones we sign. They make us proud to be Barca fans. I don't think any team has ever done that."

Despite facing an uphill battle, the Gunners never gave up and were rewarded in the 51st minute when Mohamed El Nenny pulled one back, but Luis Suarez put Barca back in front on the night midway through the second half.

The Uruguayan striker was in fine form, setting up Neymar's opener and scoring an effort that almost didn't go in as it barely made it under the crossbar.

The former Liverpool and Ajax Amsterdam star admitted that the second goal for Barca gave them some breathing space against a dangerous Arsenal side, but added that it was what they had expected coming into the match.

"The second goal came when they were attacking a lot," Suarez said. "The 2-1 lead calmed us down and we put away the game."

"I don't know what happened on the shot but the most important thing is that it went in and gave us the lead again. We knew it would be a very physical game but we had the edge playing at home. They have a lot of fast players who can counter."

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