Paris Saint-Germain took a 1-0 first-leg lead away from London after beating Arsenal with a fourth-minute Ousmane Dembele goal and two world-class saves by Gianluigi Donnarumma in their Champions League semi-final.
Luis Enrique’s side flew out of the blocks and overwhelmed the Gunners in the opening 20 minutes with an intense press that rocked the home side, missing the in-form central midfielder Thomas Partey who got himself needlessly suspended in the quarter-final rout of Real Madrid
The hosts wobbled after the early blow, Dembele shooting strongly past David Raya from the edge of the box, but managed to settle into the game in the final 10 minutes of the first half and into the second.
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After Raya saved brilliantly to deny PSG youngster Desire Doue on the half hour, Gabriel Martinelli should have brought the tie level soon after. Played through by Myles Lewis-Skelly, the Arsenal winger tried to bend his shot into the far corner but was brilliantly denied by the PSG goalkeeper.
Arsenal thought they’d equalised in the opening minutes of the second period, when Mikel Merino rose to head home a Declan Rice freekick, but it was ruled out for off side after a lengthy VAR review.
Donnarumma showed his class again to deny Leandro Trossard after a surging run from Rice, but Arsenal ended up fortunate not to go 2-0 down as Bradley Barcola dragged a late shot beyond Raya’s far post, and his fellow substitute Gonçalo Ramos rattled the crossbar.
Paris were driven forward by the excellent Fabian Ruiz and Vitinha against an Arsenal midfield sorely missing suspended Thomas Partey, while Joao Neves was superb, including two goal-saving interventions.
There was plenty of focus post-match on the relative performances of the midfields.
While Rice and Merino were string and busy, skipper Martin Odegaard failed to inspire for Arsenal, while Bukayo Saka, aside from a brief explosion, was below his best.
“I think Declan [Rice] and Mikel [Merino] were enormous,” said Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta. On Partey, who will return for the second leg, he added: “He gives options and a different threat. It gives us flexibility to change the game.
“It’s half-time and we have a big chance to be in the final.”
Arteta was disappointed with the result.
“We put so much into the game. We struggled first 10-15 minutes to get momentum and dominance. Disappointed not to get a draw at least,” he said.
On the disallowed goal and missed chances, he added: “Great timing, the margins, millimetres offside. The action of Martinelli one-on-one, he has done that before. Trossard in a one-on-one and he [Donnarumma] makes the save. That’s the margins, that’s the level.”
Paris deserved their victory.
“A superb team this Paris team,” said former Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Bosnich on Stan Sport, praising Enrique for turning the side around. They had won just one of their opening five games in the tournament this season – including a 2-0 loss against the Gunners in October.
“Before the game, we spoke about match day two when Arsenal beat this Paris side in the league phase. And quite convincingly so at the Emirates,” said Bosnich.
“It’s a completely different team, Paris, then to what they are now. And they showed that tonight. I thought Arsenal did as well as they possibly could in terms of the fact that they didn’t have Thomas Partey. That was a problem.
“They tried everything to get back into the game as they eventually did. And had a goal disallowed marginally for offside and a couple of fantastic saves by Donnarumma.
“But when you’re not quite as good as the opposition, these are those little things that go against you. It wasn’t their night. And also it goes to show how good a side this Paris side is because Arsenal made the reigning champions, Real Madrid, look quite inferior over two legs. Tonight, that was not the case.
“It’s still not over and Ramos and Barcola could have put it completely beyond Arsenal. They didn’t. So still half a chance. But this Paris side: wonderful, wonderful team.”
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