Future is bright for Arsenal, says Wenger

LONDON, Mar 9 (Reuters) Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal's Champions League triumph over Real Madrid will give his young side fresh confidence in their battle to finish a trying season on a high.

Europe will dominate the coming weeks for Arsenal who head into tomorrow's quarter-final draw with the added task of trying to overtake neighbours Tottenham Hotspur in the race to next season's Champions League qualifiers.

For the Frenchman, yesterday's spirited 0-0 draw with Real and their 1-0 aggregate win showed the growing self-belief in a side with an average outfield age of 23.

Their success over Real's Galacticos was particularly welcome for the Arsenal manager in a season where only their European ambitions have gone to plan.

''Over the two legs, I feel we have done extremely well...

and if you look at the average age of the team it is fantastic,'' he said.

''We have been growing and re-building for two months. I believe we have re-built character and solidarity and these have always been the basic values of our club.

''For a while in November and December, I felt we did not always have that, or the belief we have always shown before.

Breaking into French, he added: ''The team are growing up...it is a very, very young side and you have to be a bit patient at times. The quality of our football has always been good, (but) we often haven't been mature enough to avoid losing matches 1-0.'' MORE REUTERS AY PC1622