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Resolute PSG weather Arsenal storm, make final
Stout defending and sharp counter-attack key to Parisians making second Champions League final in five years
Kolkata: And then there were two. Representatives from Paris and Milan, fashion capitals of the world, will bring to Munich on May 31 different and distinctive styles as they continue to evolve into markedly better versions of who they were. London will have to wait though on evidence of how Arsenal fared over two semi-final legs it may not be long.
It can be odd talking about progress after a 1-3 defeat on aggregate but Arsenal, impressively aggressive at the start against Paris St-Germain (PSG) on Wednesday, have come far under manager Mikel Arteta. The pasting of Real Madrid was one proof, extending their run in Europe by a round is another, the impending second-place finish in the Premier League a third. Opta had Arsenal as fourth favourites to win the 2024-25 Champions League.
Yes, they will finish a fifth season without a trophy. Yes, there has been talk of them bottling it in semi-finals, especially in the light of this defeat and how the Carabao Cup went, but you only need to go back to mid-table league finishes between 2017-18 to 2021-22 to see where Arsenal were.
This was the first time 95% of his players were in a Champions League semi-final, Arteta said after losing through goals from Fabian Ruiz (27) and Achraf Hakimi (72) which came before Bukayo Saka’s strike (76) and his miss from metres out in the 79th.
This will be PSG’s second final since 2020 and fourth semi-final in six seasons. For long, Arsenal were not breathing in this rarefied air. Manchester City’s travails before they broke the hoodoo, Inter Milan waiting since 2010 or that of PSG as they search for their first shows that teams go through a churn, heartbreaks too, and still need improve to give themselves the best chance of winning the Champions League.
PSG captain Marquinhos has tried 11 times, Arteta said. “The first day I was here I said the objective was to work towards being able to make history, to be the first to win this so-desired trophy,” said PSG coach Luis Enrique who turned 55 on Thursday.
Everything that happened before smoke lifted at the Parc des Princes showed the best of Arsenal and why they could not beat Europe’s form team. Arsenal had 69% possession in the first quarter, went direct, got Thomas Partey to launch throws and could have scored twice in the first four minutes through Declan Rice and Gabriel Martinelli and again in the eighth when Martin Odegaard drove through a thicket of legs.
Martinelli and Odegaard were denied by Gianluigi Donnarumma for whom this competition has been one long redemption song. Donnarumma’s errors have hurt PSG over the years, against Arsenal as well early in the season, but he has been superb in the knockout rounds. A lot will be said of Saka, unable to get on top of the bounce, shinning Ricardo Calafiori’s delivery but the huge frame of Donnarumma flying through would not have helped.
“He (Donnarumma) has won the game for them,” said Arteta.
But good though those saves were, as were Donnarumma tipping away a Saka curler in the 64th and a Saka corner-kick earlier, it also showed Arsenal’s inability to be clinical. Arsenal had 61 attacks, PSG 26. How they buy in summer will show how keen they are at winning trophies because this much is clear: Arsenal cannot survive at this level with a midfielder filling in as false nine.
With Ousmane Dembele not fit to start, PSG too played without a central attacker and it could have hurt had Arsenal taken their chances. It wasn’t till the 17th minute when Marquinhos found Khvicha Kvaratskhelia that PSG had done any attacking. But in that three touch move, which ended with Kvaratskhelia’s shot bending into the upright, they showed how sharp they can be in counter-attacks.
Another theme for the night, the season too, was how quickly PSG pounce on errors. A heavy touch from Declan Rice and Kvaratskhelia won the free kick that led to the first goal. Ruiz’s volley was sumptuous, his shifting the ball from right to left just as good, but Arsenal had left the PSG midfielder in space. At 6.9 goals from every 100, Arsenal’s defensive record in set-pieces is the worst in the Premier League, as per The Athletic.
Hakimi’s goal came after Arsenal lost the ball in midfield and PSG broke through Kvaratskhelia and Ruiz. The advantage, if any, from David Raya saving Vitinha’s poorly taken penalty in the 69th after VAR found Myles Lewis-Skelly’s hand in an unnatural position was lost.
Champions League matches are won in penalty boxes, Arteta said. PSG were good in both. Against Liverpool, among the four Premier League teams they beat this season, PSG showed they could keep the ball. In Paris, it was their defending just as it had been their pressing in the reverse fixture.
This is a team whose full backs score, whose midfielders are willing to accept the ball under pressure and play killer passes and has talent in all areas of the pitch. “They have complete clarity on every single phase of the game,” said former Arsenal player Jack Wilshere on TNT Sport.
