Arsenal have it all to do as PSG frustrate misfiring Gunners

Sunny overture as the Emirates prepares for its Champions League semi-final : Picture by @YTJourno

Champions League semi-final first leg

Arsenal (0) 0

Paris Saint-Germain (1) 1 Dembele 4

It wasn't quite as bad as the one and only previous Champions League semi-final tie to be played at the Emirates - but it ran it close.

PSG scored early on, then showed the sort of mettle that denied Liverpool at Anfield in an earlier knock-out round.

Ousmane Dembele's strike was enough to give Luis Enrique's team a slender advantage to take to the Parc des Princes next Wednesday and in the end his side came nearer to making the margin greater than Arsenal did to finding an equaliser.

On a night when they struggled to carve out many really good chances, Arsenal thought they had levelled it early in the second half when Mikel Merino headed in a Declan Rice free-kick, but a VAR offside call denied them.

There were two great saves from Gianluigi Donnarumma to deny Gabriel Martinelli in the first half and Leandro Trossard in the second - when he made a miraculous low stop to keep out the clearest opening the hosts fashioned.

But there were three big chances towards the end of the game for PSG as Arsenal ran out of ideas. Joao Neves fired just over, sub Bradley Barcola slipped a low shot wide of a post when clean through and fellow newcomer Goncalo Ramos stabbed a shot again the crossbar.

In short, it could have been an even worse scoreline for the Gunners, in what was only their third ever semi-final in this competition. They face an almighty task to turn it around next week and reach the final in Munich next month against Barcelona or Inter.

This was PSG's second visit to the home of the Gunners this season but could hardly have felt more different.

The previous one came in the early group stages of this year's expanded competition and a fairly low-key October night ended in what seemed a pretty routine 2-0 home win.

It had not been the A-list contest anticipated when the mouth-watering draw paired these two in a tale of two cities. Paris seemed half-paced. Defeat to goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka hardly seemed to matter, given the lack of immediate jeopardy.

Tonight was a total contrast, of course. The stakes infinitely higher. This was the real deal.

Neither side has won Europe's most coveted prize. Both have endured defeats in their one and only final appearance - the Gunners to Barcelona in 2006, PSG to Bayern a couple of years ago during Covid.

These teams were playing for history as well as professional pride and personal glory. The raw emotion of the night was obvious in a pre-match full of cordite, swirling smoke, fireworks, bouncing PSG Ultras and a resounding version of North London Forever. The Emirates has never sounded so loud before a game.

But as Arsenal's hopes started to fade, it was the indefatigable away end that dominated the airwaves.

The one and only previous semi-final tie in this stadium started disastrously - with Arsenal conceding two goals in the first 11 minutes against Man United to knock the stuffing out of them in 2009. Here they were threatened with a repeat.

PSG, so slick, so fast, so pulsating in their tempo, immediately caused problems and after Dembele had worked the ball wide to danger man Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, the ball came back to him on the edge of the area and his first-time left-foot shot swept past David Raya's left hand post and into the net.

We had been playing less than four minutes.

It was a bitter pill to swallow and although the Gunners did not panic, the next 20 minutes proved ultra sobering as they chased Parisian shadows - Vitinha and Fabian Ruiz simply not allowing Arsenal any of the ball. How the Gunners missed the suspended Thomas Partey.

It was a good 23 minutes before Arsenal created any kind of threat - Jakub Kiwior heading a Martin Odegaard floated free-kick into the awaiting giant Donnarumma.

But they slowly worked their way into the contest, the half ending with Martinelli having a clear sight of goal before being denied by the diving Italian keeper.

It suggested Arteta's men had it in them to get back into it. In the end, however, they were left frustrated and their hopes now appear slim.

The 'Make it Happen' motto of this cup run will need to do some heavy lifting in Paris now.

Gunners: (4-3-3) Raya - Timber (White 83), Saliba, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly - Odegaard (Nwanerin 91), Rice, Merino - Saka, Trossard, Martinelli

PSG: (4-3-3) Donnarumma - Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Nuno Mendes - Joao Neves (Zaire-Emery 89), Vitinha, Fabian Ruiz - Doue (Goncalo Ramos 76), Dembele (Barcola 70), Kvaratskhelia

Attendance: 59,699