PSG beat Arsenal 1-0 in Champions League semi-final first leg tie
PSG beat Arsenal 1-0 in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League courtesy of an early strike from Ousmane Dembele.
Dembele gave the Parisians the lead, with a low strike that sneaked through a sea of red and into the bottom right-hand corner in the fourth minute.
Mikel Merino thought he had found the equaliser at the start of the second half but VAR intervened and disallowed the goal due to offside.
PSG head back to Paris with a slim lead and are now 90 minutes away from reaching the Champions League final for the first time since 2020.
It will not be an impossible task for Arsenal to overcome a one-goal deficit but their hopes of reaching the Champions League final have taken a huge dent.
- Story of the match
Mikel Arteta made two changes to the Arsenal side that drew 2-2 with Crystal Palace six days ago, with Bukayo Saka and Mikel Merino rejoining the starting lineup. However, Luis Enrique made no changes to his side that was defeated 3-1 by Nice earlier in the week.
PSG had the perfect start, finding the back of the net inside four minutes courtesy of Dembele. After picking the ball up in midfield, the winger picked out Khvicha Kvaratskhelia down the left, who beat his marker before finding Dembele inside the box.
The Frenchman, who had not scored in his last six games for PSG, made no mistake and found the bottom right-hand corner to give the visitors the lead.
With this first-leg tie being held at the Emirates Stadium, it was the worst possible start that Arsenal and Arteta would have wanted, but the home fans didn't let it affect them and remained in fine voice to help raise the spirit of the players.
Although Arsenal had conceded, it wasn't an awful start from them, and they needed to remain patient with well over 80 minutes left of the game.
The Gunners soon grabbed a foothold in the game and began to challenge the PSG defence. Jakub Kiwior had a tame header comfortably saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma, and Bukayo Saka looked bright around the edge of the PSG box.
However, the Parisians still posed a threat, with Kvaratskhelia forcing David Raya to pull off a good low save at the near post. Fabian Ruiz also saw an effort cannon off the post after he reacted quickest to a loose ball.
Having only recorded one shot in the opening 35 minutes, Arsenal needed to try and carve out more opportunities. With five minutes of the first half left to play, Arsenal had a huge chance to get level.
Saka incredibly beat two defenders before sending an enticing cross into the box for Gabriel Martinelli, who had an empty net to touch the ball into, but at full stretch, the Brazilian was unable to get a touch on it, which meant that PSG went into the break with the lead.
After a 15 minute interval, the sides came back out to the pitch and just two minutes into the second half, Arsenal thought they had found an equaliser.
From a set piece on the left-hand side, Declan Rice put a looping cross into the box which was met by the head of a jumping Mikel Merino who glanced the ball past Donarruma and into the back of the net.
But joy turned to frustration as VAR stepped in. A tense three-minute review concluded with the referee ruling the Spanish midfielder offside.
Despite this, it was a positive sign from The Gunners and helped kick-start their next attacking moves.
Leandro Trossard came agonisingly close with a low drilled strike across goal that was saved well by Donarruma. The Italian shot-stopper was then called into action once again to capture a floating cross that was sent into the box by Martin Ødegaard.
Despite an energetic start to the second half, Arsenal were unable to trouble a stubborn PSG defence, and were forced to pass the ball around the box in an attempt to create little pockets of space.
Substitute Bradley Barcola almost added a second for PSG with eight minutes left to play when he pounced on a sleeping Gunners defence to get in-behind but the forward dragged his shot agonisingly wide of the far post.
After playing a delightful ball into the box from a set-piece at the start of the second half, Rice found himself hovering over a dead ball with minutes left to play. This time, he smashed a free kick from the left hand side into a wall of PSG defenders.
This was the final chance for the Gunners to salvage something from their home tie, and if they want any chance of progressing to the Champions League final that takes place at the end of May, they will have to find a way to beat PSG next Wednesday (7th May) in Paris.