Dembele's early strike gives PSG first leg advantage over Arsenal
PSGLEE: Paris Saint Germain's Ousmane Dembele celebrates scoring his side's winner. Pic: dam Davy/PA Wire.
ARSENAL ARE DOWN but not out against PSG as the best team so far lead this tie with 90 minutes of the second leg to play in France next Wednesday night.
The Londoners were playing their first Champions League semi-final in 16 years against a Parisian side here for the fourth time in the last six seasons. It showed.
And in Ousmane Dembele, PSG had a world class player and finisher who did what no other player could do on the night – score a goal.
Dembele, who was left out of his squad when Paris lost here in the league stage in October, made his mark after only three minutes this time.
His 25th goal this year – not season, but since January - was created and finished by the remarkably talented French World Cup winner.
PSG broke through an aggressive Arsenal press and the break started with Dembele inside his own half.
He carried the ball at pace and played out to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia on the left wing, positioning himself on the edge of the area to receive the return pass and curl in a first-time shot in off a post. Sheer brilliance.
Maybe Arsenal should not have gone after the ball in so many numbers, but it took a move of lightning pace and quality to make them pay.
Arteta could not have feared much of a worse start for his side. They buckled, wobbled but did not fold. Paris, however, went up a level, buoyed by the confidence of an unexpected early lead and were unplayable for about 20 minutes.
They pinged the ball in and around Arsenal, so badly missing the suspended Thomas Partey in midfield to break things up.
Maybe he would have stopped that PSG goalscoring break. We will never know. When they did tackle, PSG went down and whistle happy Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic was happy to oblige them with free kicks.
Fortunately, for Arsenal, he did not fall for a Kvaratskhelia penalty area dive with around 20 minutes gone. Replays showed contact by Jurrien Timber and a spot kick decision might not have been overturned so he got that one right.
He fell for most of their other tricks, however, including one tumble which resulted in a yellow card for Leandro Trossard for a non-existent foul.
How different to the officiating of French referee Francois Letexier, who nullified the dark arts of Real Madrid in Arsenal’s quarter-final victory in Spain. Arsenal know their way around the rule book too so their complaints will garner little sympathy going into the second leg.
What they needed to do was stick to their task and keep the ball better when PSG swarmed around them when they did get possession.
Easier said than done against such a well-drilled, determined opponent. Instead, they looked uncertain, hesitant and unsure how to disrupt PSG’s flow. Were it not for a brilliant David Raya save from Desire Doue they would have trailed by two at half time.
Teenager Myles Lewis-Skelly had the measure of Achraf Hakimi on the left side of the pitch and Bukayo Saka, by far Arsenal’s best player, was composed and threatening on the rare occasions he got on to the ball as Arsenal grew in belief going into the break.
Gianluigi Donnarumma’s impressive low save from Gabriel Martinelli denied what would have been a well-earned equaliser for Arsenal as the break came just when they had worked out how to get at their French opponents.
Saka’s frustration at PSG play-acting earned him a yellow card for kicking the ball away to sum up a fractious first half for Arsenal and the man with the whistle, much to the delight of the relentlessly noisy, drumming and jumping visiting supporters.
Mikel Merino headed in from a free-kick right at the start of the second half only for his effort to be disallowed after three and a half minutes of VAR nonsense.
So much for automated offside - even though the Spaniard did look the wrong side of the line once the images got relayed to the press box. Pity the poor fans here who saw nothing.
They did, though, see their team play with more belief once more and it took another dynamic Donnarumma save to deny Trossard a counter-attack equaliser.
Arsenal were the better team now but Paris were sensibly wary of taking chances so early in the tie and pushing too hard for a second goal.
The withdrawal of a fading Dembele for Bradley Barcola with 20 minutes to go made them an even more solid unit as they decided to sit on their lead.
Or so it seemed until Barcola broke clear and shot wide with only Raya to beat late on. Fellow substitute Goncalo Ramos hit the bar on another break as Arsenal left gaps in pursuit of a late leveller.
And so it ended. Paris supporters and reporters celebrated as if the deed is done. Maybe they are right to be so happy for it will take a performance of unprecedented brilliance to get Arsenal through to next month’s final in Munich.
Raya 7, Timber 6 (White 83), Saliba 8, Kiwior 5, Lewis-Skelly 7, Rice 6, Merino 7, Odegaard 6 (Nwaneri 90), Saka 7, Martinelli 6, Trossard 7.
Donnarumma 8, Hakimi 6, Pacho 6, Marquinhos 6, Mendes 7, Joao Neves 7 (Zaïre-Emery 89), Vitinha 7, Fabian 7, Doue 8 (Ramos 76), Kvaratskhelia 7, Dembele 9 (Barcola 70).
Slavko Vincic (SVN) 5.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
