"Arsenal are the best team in the world", Slavia Prague ace makes bold confession

Exclusive by Alessandro Schiavone in Prague

Capital Football had the honour to speak exclusively to Slavia Prague defender David Zima after the Czech giants' 3-0 reversal at home to Arsenal. Here is what he said.

David, it was always going to be difficult for Slavia Prague against Arsenal. But did you expect the puzzle to be that difficult to solve? Apart from the first 10 minutes and maybe the last five the Gunners didn't give you a sniff..

"In my opinion Arsenal are one of the best teams in the world, if not the best. This explains why it was tough for us. But in the opening 20 minutes we did well. We pressed,  controlled the game and had some goal chances. When Arsenal subsequently started to pass the ball around it became difficult for us. In defence we then shot ourselves in the foot and we conceded a goal on penalty in the aftermath of a catalogue of corners for Arsenal. It's tough to defend corners when you're up against players like Gabriel and Saliba. The referee awarding them a penalty complicated matters."

Then conceding only a few seconds into the second-half must have killed your legs.

"When we conceded the 2-0 we regrouped in a circle and told each other we'd go again in terms of pressing. It was the 3-0 that killed us off."

Do you think you'd have fancies your chances had Arsenal not found a breakthrough via a penalty?

"It's always crucial not to concede a goal in the first-half because that can lead to nervousness for the other team after the restart. Anything could have happened then."