Mikel Arteta makes honest admission over Arsenal’s Champions League second leg at PSG

Arsenal slipped to a narrow defeat to French giants Paris Saint-Germain in the first-leg of their Champions League match-up on Tuesday and Mikel Arteta has spoken out after the result

Mikel Arteta claimed Arsenal still “have a big chance to be in the final” after the Gunners fired blanks.

On a dispiriting night for the Premier League brand, PSG closed in on a clean sweep of wins against English teams in this season’s tournament – Manchester City, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal. Arteta’s men need a miracle in the Parc des Princes next Wednesday after PSG strung together 26 passes leading to Ousmane Dembele’s winner, his eighth Champions League goal this season, at a subdued Emirates.

But the Gunners boss put a brave face on an excruciating setback, insisting: “It’s half-time and we have a big chance to be in the final. “I’m disappointed with the result. We put so much into the game. We struggled in the first 10-15 minutes to get momentum and dominance. But I’m disappointed not to get a draw at least.”

Arsenal were close to an equaliser moments after the break, but Mikel Merino’s header was chalked off after a long VAR review. Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard also went close and Arteta shrugged: “It’s millimetres offside, Martinelli was one-on-one and the keeper made a big save, Trossard was completely one-one-one. Those are the margins in a semi-final.

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“I don’t know the percentages, but we still have a real chance to be in the final. To go to the Champions League final we will have to do something special in Paris and win the game.”

But former England captain Wayne Rooney, working as a pundit on Amazon Prime, was less impressed with Arsenal’s performance – on and off the pitch. He said: “PSG could have won the game by two or three. I was a bit disappointed with how Arsenal played – and the fans, too.

“It was subdued. It was like they beat Real Madrid (in the quarter-finals) and would walk into the final. I think for Arsenal there’s a fear over the last few years, psychologically, of not getting over the line.

What went wrong for Arsenal vs PSG? Share your thoughts in the comments below

“They’ve ran Manchester City close a couple of times in the league, they’ve ran Liverpool a little bit close, now they’ve beaten Madrid and they’re close in the Champions League… I think there’s a fear. There’s a hurdle they have to go over.”

PSG coach Luis Enrique said: “Emotions are at that level in those kind of matches so it’s difficult to analyse. Great atmosphere, but we showed the kind of team we are. We tried to play our way and scored the goal early playing the way we play. We suffered sometimes but could have scored the second goal. The second match is going to be very tough.”

Only two teams have reached the Champions League final after losing the first leg of their semi-final at home – Ajax in 1996 and Tottenham in 2019.

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