Paris Saint-Germain – Arsenal: The Parisians Punish Gritty Gunners (2-1)

May 8, 2025 No Comments

Two clubs who have never tasted the glory of being the best of the European elite aspired to reach the Champions League final. Arsenal attempted to put pressure on the Parisians, but the turnaround never came close to happening. Luis Enrique’s entertainers only needed flashes of brilliance to bring their opponents into line and eventually, they took the tie into their hands.

Tactical analysis and match report by Emmanuel Adeyemi-Abere.


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PSG are playing football that is the envy of the European elite. Intensity, individuality, and ingenuity have been a blend that has blown the best on the continent out of the water. A pristine Parisian record in the new year has suffered two blots in Ligue 1 against Nice and Strasbourg, but the action in the first leg left no doubt that the camp continues to lock in on their targets. One goal to the good in this tie, ninety minutes stood between Luis Enrique’s men and a place in the Champions League final.

While the Parisians are the only club that can still win a treble in Europe, Arsenal are fighting to save the scraps of their season. A 2-1 loss to Bournemouth on the weekend marked the fourth time the team have dropped points in their last five Premier League outings, falling 15 points off the pace of the newly crowned champions Liverpool. The Champions League has papered the cracks of the campaign, and now it is the only way to avoid a fifth straight season with no significant silverware.

Mikel Arteta has settled on a starting eleven for these big matches that he rolled out once more. Jakub Kiwior continued to join William Saliba at the center of the back four while Myles Lewis-Skelly stayed as the left back. Thomas Partey, who was back from a one game suspension, sat at the base of midfield, so Declan Rice could play a little higher in the middle of the park. Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka started on the flanks and Mikel Merino moved back into the role of the central forward.

Enrique entrusted ten of the eleven men from the first leg to get the job done. There was no Ousmane Dembélé, whose hamstring injury from the first leg forced him to be content with a spot on the bench. Bradley Barcola was back in the lineup in a front three with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Désiré Doué. Vitinha, Fabián Ruiz, and João Neves were the three men in the engine room. Achraf Hakimi, Nuno Mendes, Willian Pacho, and Marquinhos maintained the back four in front of Gianluigi Donnarumma.


Arsenal’s attritional approach begins

PSG played about with their opponents in the first phase of the game at the Emirates Stadium, but the script switched in Paris. Set pieces were a part of the discourse about what could cause danger and aerial attacks allowed Arsenal to rattle the hosts in the first five minutes. Rice rose over Marquinhos to thrash a headed effort at the target. Seconds later, Partey, who would hurl several long throws into the danger zone, found Martinelli, whose hooked effort forced Donnarumma to dive to the rescue.



The aerial assault did not stop: Ødegaard scooped the second ball from a throw-in, and he hit a half volley to draw out a second strong save. When the ball was down on the floor, Arteta also adapted to the benefit of his players: Arsenal held onto 69% of the possession in the first quarter of an hour.

The Parisian press suffocated Arsenal last week, but the intensity dialed down in front of their fans. Enrique’s men still set out to engage from a 4-1-4-1 formation with man marking in the middle of the park. Lewis-Skelly still took the attention of the PSG midfield, but the pressure loosened up. Merino moved between the lines, dropping out to the left, Rice was willing to rotate ahead of him, and Timber trundled forward to free space for Saliba to dribble up the field and help with switches to Martinelli.


13th minute: offensive sequence from Arsenal. Barcola occupied a central position in the front three and did not engage aggressively with Saliba. The central defender drove forward as Timber stepped inside after pinning Kvaratskhelia backwards. Ødegaard drifted deeper through the inside right channel, attracting Vitinha, but space was available for Saliba to set out a switch to Martinelli.


The winger was persistent in his intent, and Arsenal mirrored that focus off the ball with a much more successful string of pressing sequences. However, the Parisians would go ahead close to the half hour.


Arsenal allow moments to pass

Kvaratskhelia, who had previously cracked the post with a whipped effort, chased down a loose touch from Rice to earn a free kick. Vitinha whipped the ball into the box and Partey cleared the delivery with his head. It fell for Fabián on the edge of the danger zone and the midfielder moved around Martinelli, cutting to his left with a chested piece of control before firing a volley past David Raya.

The Parisians were pouncing on a few moments of deliberation with Neves acting as a nimble terrier in the middle of the park. Barcola had broken forward before the goal to set away Doué for a strike that capitalized on a weak pass to Kiwior, and Lewis-Skelly spent a little too long on the ball to allow Kvaratskhelia to release Barcola not long later. The French forward chopped inside away from the left back, but Rice raced back to thwart a clean strike at the goal. The guests were walking on a tightrope.

It did not help that they were not platforming Saka to shine with more freedom to impact in the final third. He often stuck to the wing without the ideal support from Timber as a runner on the overlap or any clear connection with his captain to service his willingness to move behind the back four. In the transition, openings also bypassed the Gunners, who were still without a goal at the end of the half.


36th minute: offensive transition from Arsenal. Saka stole the ball from Mendes and drove into the final third on the transition. Neves narrowed the space for him to try and connect with Merino and switch sides to the left, so he looked to feed a through ball beyond Fábian into the path of Rice. However, Merino moved too far to the left, close to Martinelli, meaning the last line was not stretched vertically and Rice had to look for a cutback that he drilled unsuccessfully into the body of Fábian.


Parisians press on towards the final

PSG did not pepper Arsenal’s goal out of the blocks in the second half, but more momentum was moving away from the visitors. Saka was struggling to carry the team on his back from the right wing, but Arsenal resorted to more long balls from Raya to get up the field. On the other hand, the Parisians flew forward down both wings with freedom, flair, and speed, slowly strangling life out of the tie.



Hakimi hit Lewis-Skelly’s arm in the box, and after a review, VAR gave a penalty. Fortunately for Arsenal, Raya repelled Vitinha. Arteta acted after this almost fatal incident. He threw on fresh legs in the 68th minute: a much earlier point than he did last week. Riccardo Calafiori came on for Lewis-Skelly as a left back. Leandro Trossard then took the place of Martinelli on the left of the front three.

Only moments later, the Parisians punished them for good. On the halfway line, Kiwior misplaced a pass and Kvaratskhelia carried forward on the breakaway. He tried to pick out a blue shirt, but his cutback went astray. But Partey loitered on the ball at the top of the penalty area, and PSG pounced: Dembélé, who had replaced Barcola, fed Hakimi to hammer a whipped strike beyond the goalkeeper.

Arteta’s men, who had not scored a goal in their last six semi-final matches across three competitions, would not quite go out without a whimper. Fifteen minutes of the allotted time remained as Trossard turned provider. He chased down Marquinhos, whose stumble saw no sympathy from the officials, and the winger whacked the ball into the penalty area. It deflected off the tangled legs of Pacho and Lucas Hernández smothered the initial shot from Saka. But Saka stuck the rebound in an empty net.

Could a comeback have been possible if Saka did not blaze over the bar after Donnarumma failed to contact a cross from Calafiori? Maybe, but it was a sobering night for Arsenal. They had kept more of the ball and given it a good go on the night, but the Parisians were a class above where it mattered.



Takeaways

Arsenal are at a crossroads. There is no doubt that Arteta has laid firm foundations for a team that can compete with some of the best in England and Europe. But the best moments of their performances in the last two rounds, whether it was the free kicks from Rice or Saka stepping up to take responsibility in the final third, relied on ideas that went away from the script. There will be a lot of scrutiny on the recruitment of top-end talent for the squad in the summer, but management must also loosen the reins.

In some ways, the Parisian process under Enrique is reminiscent of the work of his adversary in the other dugout. The Spaniard has also been successful in his post with high demands of his squad and the signing of young players to bring fresh blood into the camp. But he has still carved out a place for the personality of his players to take them to a greater level. PSG are the rightful victors and have now confirmed a meeting in Munich against Inter Milan as they set their sights on making more history.



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Emmanuel Adeyemi-Abere (22) is an ardent Arsenal fan. He now writes as a journalist for several sites but his first love will always be BTP. [ View all posts ]

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