Arteta calls for ‘something special’ after PSG edge Arsenal in tense Champions League semi-final
On Tuesday, April 29, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta challenged his team to pull off a “special” comeback after Ousmane Dembélé scored early to give Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) a narrow 1-0 win in the Champions League semi-final first leg at the Emirates Stadium.
PSG struck quickly, with Dembélé finding the net in just the 4th minute, and Arsenal couldn’t find an equaliser despite several good chances in a tightly contested match.
Both sides had big opportunities to change the score. Gonçalo Ramos hit the crossbar and Bradley Barcola missed from close range for PSG, while Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard were denied by excellent saves from PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Unlike their dominant wins in earlier rounds—like the 3-0 first-leg victory over Real Madrid—this time Arsenal will need to fight back in Paris on May 7 to make it to their first Champions League final since 2006.
Arteta remained confident:
“We are at half-time… We have to go to Paris and win the game, and we are more than capable of doing it,” he said.
“If you want to win the Champions League final, you have to do something special, and we are going to have to do something special in Paris to be there.”
He explained that Arsenal started slowly but improved after making a key tactical adjustment:
“There was something very specific with the way we play that we had to get right,” Arteta said.
“We had two one-on-ones with Donnarumma and if they go in, it is a different story… The margins are so small.”
PSG, who have also never won the Champions League, took an important step toward that goal. Coach Luis Enrique praised his players and the electric Emirates atmosphere:
“The early goal gave us a boost of confidence… It could have been better, it could have been worse,” he said.
But Enrique warned his side not to relax:
“With Arsenal we cannot let our guard down… They are a team that can completely rewrite history in a second with a goal. Nothing is in the bag.”
