Arsenal Disappoint Fans with 1-0 Loss to PSG in 1st Leg of Champions League Semifinal
There are 90 minutes to play in the Champions League semifinal between Arsenal and PSG, but the Gunners find themselves in some trouble.
The Parisians won the opening leg on Tuesday at London's Emirates Stadium, 1-0, taking an important lead on aggregate before they host the second leg next Wednesday.
It was Ousmane Dembélé who provided the crucial moment, striking in the fourth minute as PSG overwhelmed Arsenal in the opening stages of the game with a suffocating press and blistering attack.
The Gunners would go on to calm down and wrestle control of the match as the first half wound down—and were largely the better side in the second 45 minutes, even scoring on Mikel Merino's header on a free kick before it was disallowed for being offside—but their failure to at least secure a draw has left them at a major disadvantage as the semifinal heads to Paris.
And fans and pundits know it:
This wasn't a full-strength Arsenal side, as Thomas Partey wasn't eligible to play in midfield after picking up a third yellow card in UCL during the quarterfinal victory over Real Madrid. He'll be available for the second leg.
The Gunners have also been down a pair of strikers for much of the season in Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus, and defenders Gabriel Magalhães and Riccardo Calafiori were out injured as well.
That diminished depth has hurt them in the Premier League, where Liverpool have already secured the title. And without Partey on Tuesday, Merino was moved back into the midfield, leaving the diminutive Leandro Trossard to play centrally in the attack—and leaving the Gunners without much height in the box.
Ultimately, however, a faster start from Arsenal might have rendered all of that a moot point. Instead, PSG jumped all over them, Dembélé took his chance while Arsenal failed to capitalize on their own, and the Gunners find themselves with a massive wall to scale in Paris a week from now.
