Kick every ball, Mikel Arteta told Arsenal’s supporters. Kicking Khvicha Kvaratskhelia would have been more helpful. During the period that shaped this first leg, and potentially the tie, Paris Saint-Germain’s warrior on the wing was unplayable.
As part of his pre-match battle cry, Arteta had urged the club’s fans to ‘bring their boots’. But even if every one of them had laced up and joined the quest to combat Kvaratskhelia, he still would have found a way to tie Arsenal in knots.
There is something of Jack Grealish about the 24-year-old. Socks rolled down, bulging, shiny calves. That, though, is where the comparisons end.
When Kvaratskhelia received the ball wide on the left in the fourth minute, he did not check inside, he cut inside, with purpose. He did not walk, he ran.
With it, Arsenal were running scared. He did not look to simply retain the ball, he put it at risk. The reward was Ousmane Dembele’s opening goal.
It was a ruthless team move from back to front – hot butter has been known to resist knives with greater fortitude – but it was Kvaratskhelia’s incision that cut open Arsenal’s defence.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was the standout performer for PSG in their win over Arsenal
The Georgian winger was unplayable as he dismantled Arsenal’s defence from the flanks
On this evidence, Kvaratskhelia and PSG belong in the final more than Arsenal do
The home side had to find a way to stem the bleeding. One minder became two, and Kvaratskhelia still won a corner. Two became three – Jurrien Timber, William Saliba and Bukayo Saka – and he should have won a penalty for Timber’s desperate tug. When Arteta looked to the stands and waved his arms, you wondered if he was asking for reinforcements.
At this stage – just 20 minutes in, no less – Arsenal were out of breath and out of ideas. Timber decided instead to kick Kvaratskhelia – he was not having much joy with a football – and, at least for a few, welcome minutes, it did reduce the threat.
But if the left hook doesn’t get you, the right might. Enter Desire Doue. He, like all of us, had watched Kvaratskhelia run the show early on. Now, the spotlight was on him, but it was Arsenal who were blinded by the lights. Or, rather, Doue’s feet.
So quick are they, defenders must feel like they’re seeing stars, and Doue is certainly that. There is not a more exciting teenager in world football right now. And yes, that statement accounts for Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal. His first involvement was a scissors that sent two Arsenal jerseys for a haircut.
It was all great fun to watch, at least from the neutral seats. Arsenal’s talisman, Saka, among 60,000 others of an Arsenal persuasion, was not enjoying the spectacle so much. And so, to his credit, he resolved to steal Kvaratskhelia’s cloak and reverse the direction of play.
Saka has not had a vintage year, on the whole. Not that you would know from the fanfare that has accompanied his recent return. Before this, it was 13 goals from 44 matches for club and country in the 12 months previous.
He escaped censure at the Euros because of a goal to keep England in the tournament in the quarter-finals. And that is what he has existed in of late, moments. Like he did in Madrid a fortnight ago, and like he did on his return from injury against Fulham at the start of this month. Here was another moment he needed to grasp.
Arsenal, belatedly, were alive, and Saka was the beating pulse of their revival. The first half closed with him doing what Kvaratskhelia had done earlier – running fast and running forward.
France international Desire Doue was, similarly, a nuisance for the Arsenal backline
Forget old fashioned, we’ve never seen a winger like PSG’s Kvaratskhelia in football before
His drive and desire led to a chance for Gabriel Martinelli, who was a boot size away from equalising. Martinelli, the least heralded of the quarter of wingers on show, then went through on goal only to fire straight at Gianluigi Donnarumma. Saka, you feel, would have found a way over or under the Italian.
By now, Kvaratskhelia had swapped his sword for a shield. It has been said that he is a throwback to the wingers of old. But that is unfair, for George Best and Chris Waddle would not have chased Saka the same way a greyhound does a hare. Kvaratskhelia did here. Style made way for substance and, with it, PSG protected a lead that will likely prove decisive in determining who advances to Munich’s final.
On this evidence, Kvaratskhelia and PSG belong there more than Arsenal. Kvaratskhelia was the game’s best winger. But he was also the game’s best player for what he did in his own half – tackling, tracking and irritating in a way his own adversary, Timber, could not. It was he who cleared from inside the goalmouth as the hosts pressed for a late equaliser.
Forget old fashioned, we have never seen his like before.
