Paris Saint-Germain hold the edge over Arsenal as Ousmane Dembélé’s fourth-minute strike at the Emirates Stadium gives them a 1-0 advantage in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final.
After their stunning quarter-final display against holders Real Madrid, Mikel Arteta’s side were looking to move one step closer to their first Champions League Final.
However, they were outthought by a determined PSG side, who were well prepared and strategically coached by Luis Enrique.
No Partey No Party
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Gunners were without one of their more crucial member of their midfield, as the likes of Declan Rice and Mikel Merino were unable to deal with Vitinha and João Neves, who were bossing the Midfield.
Embed from Getty ImagesWhen the tough gets going, Arsenal would usually turn to their Captain for some inspiration, but even he was non-existent.
Credit must go to the way Enrique set his team up to stifle the Gunners’ talisman.
Embed from Getty ImagesIt just felt like their midfield looked a bit lopsided with the absence of either of those players, and the Parisians were able to exploit that area perfectly.“We’ve reached our first objective with tonight’s result, which could have been a draw or a 2-0 win – but nobody can change the result now. The objective now is to win the next match, and we can’t take any chances, because with one goal suddenly the tie could be level again.
Enrique: Goal.com
Though Arsenal have had a reasonably good campaign, injury’s to key players such as Jorghino has seemed to hamper their progress.
Arteta And Arsenal are Not Done Yet
Embed from Getty ImagesEven though PSG have a 1-0 advantage heading into the Parc des Princes next Wednesday, Mikel Arteta believes his side is not done yet, and has the ability to do something special.
We know that there was not that much in it. It could have gone either way and we need to pull things to our side. We needed to be a little bit more accurate, but we have whetted our appetite and we want to go to Paris and do what we need to do. If you want to win the Champions League final, you have to do something special, and now we have to do something special in Paris.”
As always, you sense that the opening goal in Paris, could have a decisive say on who will make it to Munich, on May 31.
Will Arsenal bounce back, or can PSG make it to their second European Final?
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