Comment: PSG hold Champions League nerve better than Arsenal but semi-final isn't over

Paris Saint Germain manager Luis Enrique gestures on the touchline. Pic: Adam Davy/PA Wire.

North London has been waiting forever to win a European Cup or Champions League and perhaps that weight of time was responsible for a semi-final first leg defeat against PSG in which Arsenal couldn’t quite hit the heights of their performances against Real Madrid.

But now, having experienced what it felt like, their job is to turn that same pressure on their opponents in Paris on May 7.

The French champions have their own Champions League nerves, as we saw in the quarter-final second leg against Aston Villa, and despite the money poured into the club from Qatar they have yet to be European champions.

For that reason, in particular, Arsenal must believe their dream is by no means over.

Mikel Arteta’s men will take confidence from the fact it is only a one-goal deficit, and that it took crucial saves from Gianluigi Donnarumma - and a painful VAR offside decision - to deny his side a better result.

They were also the better team for much of the second half after the visitors made such a positive start.

There was, however, also a feeling that the free-flowing side that demolished Real were held back by the sudden realisation of just what a big prize is at stake and how close they are to it.

If there's one thing Arsenal desire even more than another Premier League title it's their first ever Champions League.

It has been 22 years since they were last domestic champions, under Arsene Wenger back in 2003 and that wait is painful enough. But contrast that with their bid for European glory.

Whilst Liverpool, United and Chelsea have won 11 Champions Leagues or European Cups between them, Arsenal have never done so in their 139-year history.

That kind of wait, that kind of longing, creates a pressure that is hard to break, and at times it showed in a feverish atmosphere at the Emirates in which PSG appeared to have the cooler heads and Arsenal frantically tried to fight back from going behind early to a goal from Ousmane Dembele.

When you consider that not even Wenger's Invincibles were able to crack the Champions League, losing to Barcelona in the final of 2006, then it was easy to predict a heady and complex mix of emotions at the Emirates as PSG, favourites to win this year's trophy, arrived in North London.

Arsenal were bolstered by their outstanding performances against Real, both at home and away, but getting through that kind of tie doesn't necessarily remove pressure from the next one. In fact, it intensifies it.

The opening minutes gave an early taste of how difficult it would be.

While Real were flaccid and unadventurous at the Emirates, PSG were never going to be that; and the way they took the lead through Dembele after just four minutes, with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia cutting through the Arsenal defence, sent shivers across the stadium an only added to the feverish atmosphere.

Arsenal were still dangerous, however, finishing the half by creating an outstanding chance for Gabriel Martinelli, which Donnarumma did well to save. But even in that spell they were often frantic in attack rather than composed, whilst PSG’s game plan appeared to leave them on top.

The question was would the Gunners settle down and remember the qualities that put Real to the sword eventually?

The good news for Arsenal fans making a trip across the Channel next week is that their heroes did manage to throw off some of the shackles.

Belief soared when Declan Rice’s free-kick, almost straight after the break was glanced into the net by Mikel Merino. But the atmosphere was ultimately punctured when, after a long VAR check, the goal was ruled offside.

Leandro Trossard, taking advantage of a trademark driving run from Declan Rice, almost made amends with a shot that was again well saved by Donnarumma and the overall feeling was that Arsenal by the end of 90 minutes had pretty much matched their opponents – but without finding a way through.

Having said that, Barcola missed an excellent chance late on for the Parisians before Ramos hit the bar - and the headlines will say that PSG, with their legendary home crowd behind them in the Parc des Princes, are now even bigger favourites to go through next week. Some will even suggest it is theirs to lose.

But who’s to say that the tension which stifled Arsenal in the first half here won’t also grip PSG, a club only formed in 1970 (just as the Gunners were launching what was to be a title-winning season in England) but who are under huge pressure now to justify their place at football’s top table.

Arsenal need to take advantage – by beating their own demons and calling on those that haunt PSG to turn up in Paris — if they are to turn this tie around.