Arteta urges Arsenal to deliver special comeback against PSG

Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta, urged the club to produce a “special” comeback against Paris Saint-Germain after Ousmane Dembele fired the French side to a 1-0 win in the Champions League semi-final first leg on Tuesday.

Dembele struck in the fourth minute at the Emirates Stadium and Arsenal were unable to haul themselves level in a tense clash featuring key misses from both teams.

PSG wasted two golden opportunities to take firm control of the tie in the closing stages as Goncalo Ramos hit the bar and Bradley Barcola shot wide from close-range.

Arsenal also had their moments after a slow start, with PSG keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma making two superb saves to deny Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard.

In contrast to the previous two rounds, when Arsenal established substantial first leg leads en route to knocking out PSV Eindhoven and Real Madrid, the Gunners will have to do it the hard way this time.

They head to Paris for the second leg on May 7th knowing an epic performance is required to book a place in their first Champions League final since 2006.

Arteta, whose club have never won the Champions League, saw enough in the first leg to believe it is far from impossible for Arsenal to leave the Parc des Princes victorious.

“We are at half-time, and my message is exactly the same as it was after we beat Real Madrid 3-0 in the first leg of the quarter-final,” he said.

“We have to go to Paris and win the game, and we are more than capable of doing it. If you want to win the Champions League final, you have to do something special, and we are going to have to do something special in Paris to be there. We still have a lot of chances to be in that final.”

In the first half, Arsenal were in danger of becoming the latest English team to be blown away by PSG.

But Arteta made an unspecified tactical switch that he said helped regain control against a PSG side who had already eliminated Liverpool and Aston Villa, as well as beating Manchester City in the league phase.

“We had one issue. We corrected it after 15 minutes and we turned the game around. There was something very specific with the way we play that we had to get right,” he said.

“We had two one-on-ones with Donnarumma and if they go in, it is a different story. But he made the saves, and that’s the difference in the Champions League. The margins are so small, and it didn’t go our way.”