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Arsenal’s supporters brought their boots for the biggest game in the Emirates’ history, just as Mikel Arteta had asked them to. Unfortunately, Arsenal’s players forgot to bring theirs.
The stadium was a cauldron in a way it has rarely been before but, in the midst of it, in the unforgiving floodlight glare, the home team was outclassed by Paris Saint-Germain.
Suddenly, those thunderous free-kicks of Declan Rice in the quarter-final first leg against Real Madrid here, those guided missiles that seemed to light the way towards next month’s Champions League final in Munich, seemed like a distant memory. The recollection of Gabriel Martinelli’s late winner in the Bernabeu has faded, too.
Because, after this 1-0 defeat courtesy of a first half strike from Ousmane Dembele, Arsenal now face an uphill struggle to earn the right to play either Barcelona or Inter Milan in the Allianz Arena. The tie is not over but the task is an awful lot harder than it was before kick-off.
This was not the occasion Arsenal had been hoping for. It was closer to the humbling they received at the hands of Manchester United the last time there was a Champions League semi-final here, in 2009. Arsenal went 3-0 down that night. The margin was not the same this time but the sense of dismay was not much different.
This was not the PSG that had wobbled in the second leg of their quarter-final against Aston Villa at Villa Park earlier this month. This was the PSG that had outclassed Liverpool home and away in the round before that.
Ousmane Dembele scored the only goal of the game to give PSG a first-leg advantage
Mikel Merino thought he had brought Arsenal level straight after half time with a close-range header
His celebrations were cut short as the goal was ruled out for offside after a lengthy VAR review
This was the PSG that, inspired by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Dembele and unrelenting excellence of Vitinha at the heart of midfield, looks like the best team in Europe. This was a team that looks as if it believes it is ready to lift the Champions League trophy for the first time in its history.
Arsenal did not lack for effort but Bukayo Saka had a quiet night and, by the stellar standards of his performances against Madrid, so did Declan Rice. Missing the suspended Thomas Partey, Arsenal were curiously lifeless. They were denied a second half equaliser by VAR but they might easily have lost by a wider margin.
Bradley Barcola missed one gilt-edged chance to double PSG’s lead seven minutes from the end and Goncalo Ramos hit the bar a couple of minutes later when he really ought to have scored. Arsenal should be down and out but they are not. They will, though, have to be a team transformed in the Parc des Princes if they are to have any chance of making the final.
Arsenal and Arteta had made considerable efforts to encourage their supporters to get to their seats early rather than linger at the concourse bars. ‘The place has to be something special,’ the Arsenal boss had said, ‘something that we haven’t seen. I really hope everybody brings that energy with them.’
Nights like this carry a special energy of their own, the energy of being among the elite, the energy of being close to the prize, the energy of feeling that this Arsenal side had its coming of age in the quarter-finals against Real Madrid and was ready to seize its destiny.
PSG felt that energy, though, too. They may have made the semi-finals four times in the last six years but they behaved as if they were filled with the thrill of the new. It was their fans, not Arsenal’s, who packed their seats in the stadium an hour before kick-off and leapt and clapped and roared out their support for their team.
Arsenal’s supporters rectified that before kick-off and drowned out their counterparts. The game kicked off in a quite stupendous din worthy of the occasion. But it took PSG less than four minutes to puncture the atmosphere.
Dembele picked the ball up in oceans of space in midfield and had plenty of time to run at the Arsenal defence. He fizzed a pass out wide to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and when Kvaratskhelia cut the ball back to him, Dembele steered a first-time shot past David Raya and in off the post.
Mikel Arteta asked for fans to play their part but his side produced very little to cheer about
Gianluigi Donnarumma produced a fine save to deny Gabriel Martinelli in the first half
Donnarumma then denied Leandro Trossard with another excellent stop in the second half
Arsenal’s supporters refused to be discouraged. With the exhortations of Arteta still ringing in their ears, they increased the volume. But their team struggled to keep hold of the ball and when they lost it, they found it difficult indeed to win it back, so assured were PSG in possession.
In the first 20 minutes, it felt as if Arsenal were clinging on for dear life. Marquinhos should have done better with a header he directed straight at Raya and Kvaratskhelia appealed fervently for a penalty after he fell in the box. Replays showed it was a dive. But it did little to lift the feeling of Arsenal being under siege.
Arsenal tried to rally. They started to play their way into the game but without threatening the PSG defence. In fact, when a chance came, it was from the lavishly talented Desire Doue stepping inside his man and unleashing a fierce right-foot drive that brought a brilliant reaction save from Raya.
Arsenal mustered their first serious attack of the night soon after. They thought they had a penalty when Jakub Kiwior laid the ball back to Mikel Merino and, as he shaped to shoot, Merino fell under the challenge of Joao Neves. The referee waved play on and he was right: Neves had timed his challenge perfectly.
Saka was booked for dissent a few minutes before half time, kicking the ball away in frustration after a foul was given against him but as the first 45 minutes bled into added time, Gabriel Martinelli broke through on the left.
One-on-one with Gianluigi Donnarumma, Martinelli, who had scored a superb late winner against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu earlier this month, tried to curl the ball around the goalkeeper but hit it too close to him and Donnarumma parried it to safety.
Arsenal thought they had equalised a minute after the interval when Rice curled a free kick into the area and Merino rose above Willian Pacho to nod past Donnarumma but the effort was ruled out by VAR for offside.
Arsenal were constantly frustrated by the referee as they struggled to keep their composure
Luis Enrique’s PSG are now in pole position to progress to the Champions League final
Arsenal came desperately close again 10 minutes later. Rice produced one of his trademark surging runs forward from midfield and played Leandro Trossard in on goal. Trossard’s shot was arrowing towards the bottom corner when Donnarumma got down superbly to touch it wide with his finger-tips.
Arsenal pressed for an equaliser as much as they could but they were lucky not to concede late goals to Barcola and Ramos. Their supporters will be there to cheer them on in numbers in Paris next Wednesday. This time, the players will have to remember their boots.
