Touré leading from the back

Young back four
Injuries to Sol Campbell, Lauren and Ashley Cole have meant that the Ivory Coast centre-back has been transformed from the most inexperienced member of the Arsenal back four to its elder statesman but Touré – who turned 25 on 19 March – has gone a long way towards ensuring the transition has been seamless. Indeed, so quickly have Emmanuel Eboué, Philippe Senderos and Mathieu Flamini – usually a central midfielder but forced to fill in at left-back – adjusted to life as first-team regulars that Arsenal have conceded only two goals in eight UEFA Champions League matches, the fewest of the quarter-finalists, keeping six successive clean sheets in the competition.

Clean sheets
The English club will equal the feat of seven straight shutouts recorded by AC Milan last season with another unblemished 90 minutes against Juventus, but Touré acknowledges that denying the Italian side would be a considerable achievement. "I'm sure it will be a great match and I'm excited to play in it," he said. "Juventus are physically, mentally and tactically strong, and we have to respect them. They're a fantastic team, good going forward, and have a great record in the Champions League, but there's no reason for us to fear them."

'Great partnership'
Touré is only too aware of the goal threat posed by the Bianconeri attack, even in the absence of Alessandro Del Piero, explaining: "Zlatan Ibrahimović is technically very good, while David Trezeguet doesn't get involved much but is always ready when there's a scoring chance, so they're a great partnership. However, we've done really well in Europe this season, particularly defensively, and we have to keep that going. We've got a young team and we're all keen to do our best. The injured players are a big loss, particularly Sol, but Eboué, Flamini and Senderos have come in and shown what good players they can be. If we keep performing like we have been doing then I'm sure we'll be OK."

Liverpool example
Arsène Wenger's makeshift defence kept Real Madrid CF at bay for 180 minutes in the first knockout round, and Touré believes that remarkable exploit gave the side an injection of confidence. "Madrid have lots of fantastic players, but we did well as a team and worked really hard over the two legs," he said, before drawing comparisons with Liverpool FC's march to glory last term while struggling for consistency in the Premiership. "It's not been an easy season but we've stuck together as a team and shown great spirit. We believe in ourselves; we saw what happened with Liverpool last season and we're confident of doing well in the Champions League."

'Big brother'
Much of the pre-match attention has focused on Patrick Vieira's return to Highbury, and Touré is delighted to have the opportunity to renew acquaintances with his former captain. "Patrick is a world-class player and a great person; he looked after me like a big brother when I first came here and helped me become the player I am," he said. "He was everyone's big brother, always ready to offer advice, and led by example on the pitch. But we have some good young players here and we can show Patrick that we're still a great team without him."