Arsenal’s Champions League heartbreak has been compounded by four stars making the worst XI of the semi-finals, according to stats boffins.
Mikel Arteta’s side exited the competition on Wednesday night by virtue of a 3-1 aggregate defeat by PSG.
The Gunners enjoyed a memorable run to the final four, coming third in the League Phase, before they beat PSV and Real Madrid in the knockout stages.
Arsenal did have chances across both legs of the PSG tie, but the French outfit’s quality ultimately told as they progressed to the final where they will take on Inter Milan.
And, Arsenal’s shortfalls have been laid bare after Sofascore published their worst XI of the Champions League semi-finals.
Within the line-up, which was displayed in a 3-4-3 formation, William Saliba took the slot at right centre back after earning a rating of just 6.40 across the two legs.
Four Arsenal stars made Sofascore’s worst XI of the Champions League semi-finals
The Gunners lost 3-1 on aggregate to PSG and William Saliba and Martin Odegaard made the XI
Gabriel Martinelli was also in the team after Arsenal squandered several chances over the tie
The Gunners defence was regularly cut open by PSG’s attack and Saliba was slightly below his best in Paris on Wednesday night.
Martin Odegaard, who has faced his fair share of criticism over recent times, suffered the ignominy of taking a spot in the midfield with a 6.60 rating.
Odegaard was close to giving the Gunners the lead early in the second leg, but he was thwarted by a fantastic save from Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The Norwegian wasn’t poor by any respects, yet PSG’s midfield trio of Vitinha, Joao Neves and Fabian Ruiz did get the better of their Gunners counterparts over the tie.
But it was in attack where Arsenal had the most representatives with both Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard taking a spot in the worst XI from the final four ties after earning ratings of 6.40 and 6.55 respectively.
Martinelli missed a gilt-edged chance early on in the second leg, while Trossard was dropped to the bench after he struggled up front in Arsenal’s first leg defeat last week.
There were several other interesting names in the worst XI, including former Gunners keeper Wojciech Szczesny after he conceded seven goals across Barcelona’s defeat to Inter Milan.
In defence, Barcelona’s Pau Cubarsi – who conceded a first half penalty in the second leg – took a spot and had the worst rating of 6.25, while Alessandro Bastoni made up the back three.
Former Gunners star Wojciech Szczesny also made the line-up after conceding seven vs Inter
Bastoni was joined by three other Inter stars despite their victory as Carlos Augusto, Nico Barella and former Man United man Matteo Darmian were also in the team.
The final member of the XI was Bradley Barcola, who was slightly underwhelming in PSG’s victory over Arsenal.
Meanwhile, in better news for PSG, they had four players in the best XI of the semi-finals; Ousmane Dembele, Fabian Ruiz, Joao Neves and Marquinhos.
That accolade of having four stars in the team was matched by Barcelona in the form of Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Pedri and Gerard Martin, with Yamal highlighting his status as one of the most exciting talents in the world over the two legs.
The Inter trio of Yann Sommer – who pulled off several improbable stops during the Barcelona tie – Francesco Acerbi and Denzel Dumfries completed the XI.
This meant that Arsenal were the only team of the final four not to have any representatives in the best XI, although Inter matched them by also having four players in the worst XI.
