Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta says his side will have to “do something special in Paris” if they are to reach the Champions League final following defeat in their semi-final first leg.
Ousmane Dembele’s early strike at the Emirates leaves the Gunners needing to overturn a one-goal deficit against Paris St-Germain in the second leg at the Parc des Princes next week.
It was an ultimately frustrating night for Arsenal at Emirates Stadium, who failed to convert any of their five shots on target.
“If you want to win the Champions League final, you have to do something special. We’re going to have to do something special in Paris to be there,” Arteta said.
PSG dominated the opening 20 minutes of the match and, while the hosts grew into the game, they continued to be frustrated by the French side’s solid defence, failing to score in a home Champions League match for the first time since February 2016.
“We have a lot of chances to be in that final. As I repeat myself, you have to do something special in the competition to have the right to be in the final. And the time to do it is going to be in Paris,” said Arteta.
Arsenal have not reached the final since 2005-06 while PSG are hunting a first Champions League trophy.
As they did against Liverpool and Aston Villa earlier in the campaign, Luis Enrique’s side relied on Italian keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to keep them out of trouble.
The 26-year-old kept a clean sheet and made five saves – including important stops to deny Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard in one-on-one situations.
“At the end, we have two of our front players one v one with Donnarumma. If they scored the goal it is different. He made the saves, like he did against Liverpool and Villa, and that’s the difference in the Champions League,” Arteta said.
But Enrique says the shot stopper was just doing his job.
“That’s the work of a goalkeeper, no? Save the team, they work every day for that. in a semi-final, you need all the players,” the Spaniard said.
