Valdano believes Arsenal to be threat to Real Madrid

Real Madrid sporting director Jorge Valdano has singled out Arsenal as one of the main threats to the Spanish club in this season's Champions League.

"Arsenal are a team that have shown real consistency," Valdano told the Spanish sports daily Marca on Saturday.

"They are well-organized, have an attacking approach to the game and have some great players. They also have a coach (Arsene Wenger) who is tactically astute and has got the complete backing of the club."

"Over the last three or four years they have started to reap the rewards from this."

The former Argentine international also hinted that a more attacking approach from some of the Italian clubs in the competition could lead to a renewed threat to Real's domination of Europe's top soccer competition.

"They are recovering as they adopt a more Spanish style game," said Valdano. "AC Milan and Juventus have started to give greater emphasis to playing with the ball and have come to understand that you cannot give up control of the midfield ... It seems that there has been a definite change in approach."

Like Arsenal, AC Milan and Juventus, the defending European champion Real remains unbeaten in this season's competition and is leader of its group. They hosts Greek side AEK Athens in tonights match.