Another season without a trophy sank towards an agonising anti-climax for Arsenal in the Parc des Princes on Wednesday night, two steps short of the glittering Champions League prize they craved.
Of the ‘magic moments’ that Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta and his midfield general Declan Rice had dreamed of and hoped for and spoken about on the eve of this semi-final second leg in the City of Light, there were none.
Not for Arsenal anyway. Not until it was too late. By the time Bukayo Saka, their best player, pulled a goal back 15 minutes from time, PSG had put the tie out of reach with brilliant strikes from Fabian Ruiz and Achraf Hakimi.
That does not mean Arsenal did not produce a performance to be proud of in a 2-1 defeat that left them 3-1 losers on aggregate. Their players poured their hearts and souls into this tie. All of them. And they outplayed PSG for swathes of the match, too. Their pressing was super-human, in the first half, in particular.
They were heartbreakingly close to getting to their first Champions League final for 19 years but until Saka’s goal, they could not convert all their possession and dominance into goals. They missed chances they had to score. They were denied by the brilliance of PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
After everything, it came down to this: PSG took their chances. Arsenal did not. Not until the game was gone. They still lack that edge that makes the difference between triumph and disaster. They do not have a ruthless goalscorer.
Declan Rice and Co found themselves up against a more clinical opponent in PSG
Thomas Partey looked devastated to be on the losing side and was embraced by Mikel Arteta
PSG chief Luis Campos joins in the on-pitch celebrations after a brilliant win
Even after he had pulled one back, Saka missed a golden opportunity to score again, skying Riccardo Calafiori’s cross over the bar. And so the debate about whether they were undone again by the lack of a conventional centre forward will rage on. It is something they must fix in the summer.
For PSG, a date with Inter Milan in Munich at the end of the month and the chance to win their first Champions League awaits. All that remains for Arsenal now is the sad, desultory crawl to the end of the season and the imperative of holding on to a place in the top five.
Some, in the midst of their disappointment, will call, absurdly, for Arteta to be sacked. That would be a huge mistake. There is much to be optimistic about for next season. Saka, William Saliba, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard can be the core of a team that breaks its drought next season.
It was said last month that this Arsenal team had come of age when they beat Real Madrid home and away in the quarter-finals and looked hugely impressive doing so. Then, when they lost the first leg of the semi-finals against PSG last week, the siren voices started singing in their ears.
Maybe Madrid aren’t what they used to be. Maybe the win in the Bernabeu wasn’t quite as significant as it seemed. Maybe it was another false dawn. Maybe, as Wayne Rooney suggested, Arsenal were afraid of putting everything on the line to win the biggest prize of them all.
That seemed to be another way of saying that PSG are a better team than Real Madrid. Luis Enrique’s side has been the best side in Europe in the second half of this season. Save a wobble in the second leg of their quarter-final against Aston Villa, they have looked irresistible.
After the magnificent white-knuckle ride of Inter’s victory over PSG at the San Siro on Tuesday evening, Arsenal knew they needed something exceptional of their own to make it into the final against the Italians in Munich at the end of the month.
Arteta said his team needed to ‘elevate’ itself to a new level.
Achraf Hakimi scored with a powerful effort to put PSG 3-0 ahead on aggregate
Bukayo Saka’s goal had given Arsenal a glimmer of hope later in the game
Mikel Arteta consoled Saka at full time, with the Gunners well beaten over two legs
The atmosphere was electric and it was a cauldron for the Gunners to play in
They had nearly got the dream start they craved. Jurrien Timber dispossessed Khvicha Kvaratskhelia on the edge of the PSG box in the third minute and crossed to the back post. Rice rose above Marquinhos six yards out but directed his header agonisingly wide.
A minute later, Arsenal nearly scored again. Thomas Partey, who was so sorely missed in the first leg, launched a long throw into the box and Gabriel Martinelli met in on the run and on the volley a few yards out. Either side of Gianluigi Donnarumma and it would have been a goal but the ball was straight at him and Donnarumma produced a fine save to keep it out.
Arsenal were totally dominant in the opening exchanges. PSG missed the cleverness of the injured Ousmane Dembele, the closest thing they have to a talisman. Arsenal laid siege to the home goal in front of the Virage Auteuil where the ultras had bounced and yelled and roared in a riot of anticipation before the match. Now they were reduced to sullen whistles as the danger Arsenal posed them became evident.
PSG hardly saw the ball. They were grateful to their goalkeeper again after seven minutes. Martin Odegaard unleashed a piledriver from the edge of the box that looked like a goal from the moment it left his boot but Donnarumma flung himself to his left to turn the ball wide. It was a world class save.
When PSG finally broke free, they showed just how potent their own attacking threat can be. Kvaratskhelia made the chance out of nothing, stepping inside Timber 25 yards out and curling a beautiful shot beyond David Raya but off the face of the post. That reassured the home supporters. They found new voice.
PSG gradually gained a foothold in the game and when Rice was booked for a foul on Kvaratskhelia on the left side of the Arsenal box, they sensed opportunity. Arsenal failed to clear Vitinha’s free-kick properly and Fabian Ruiz controlled 20 yards out and lashed an unstoppable shot past Raya.
Luis Enrique used the celebrations to impart frantic instructions to his team and PSG should have gone further ahead before the half hour. This time, Myles Lewis-Skelly’s pass was intercepted by Kvaratskhelia and when he played Bradley Barcola in on goal, Arsenal were lucky his shot was too close to Raya.
As Arsenal tried to force their way back into the match early in the second half, a loud cheer erupted from the stands as Dembele began to warm up on the touchline but Arteta’s side continued to press for an equaliser.
The Spaniard connected sweetly after a corner was headed into his path on the edge of the box
The PSG fans generated an extraordinary atmosphere and their side led at the break
Gianluigi Donnarumma came up with some exceptional saves to deny the Gunners
PSG will enter the final as favourites and Luis Enrique has them fantastically set up
Martin Odegaard looked dejected at full time as he was embraced by his manager
Again, they thought they had found one midway through the half when Saka stepped inside Nuno Mendes on the PSG left and sent a left-foot shot arrowing towards the top corner. Once again, their hearts were broken by Donnarumma, who arched his back and pulled off a fantastic finger-tip save.
Arsenal escaped the blow that might have extinguished their hopes completely when PSG were awarded a penalty because a shot from Achraf Hakimi had brushed Lewis-Skelly’s hand on the way through to Raya. VAR alerted the referee to it and he gave a penalty. It was ridiculously harsh and a measure of justice was served when Vitinha’s weak spot-kick was saved by Raya.
It was only a brief reprieve. Dembele came on and with his first touch, he played the ball into the path of Hakimi just inside the Arsenal box and Hakimi curled it past Raya into the bottom corner.
Saka’s goal, taking the ball around Donnarumma, and squeezing the ball home, was nothing more than a consolation, even if his later chance might have changed things. Arsenal were close but not close enough.
