Paris St Germain took a big step towards reaching the Champions League final as Ousmane Dembele's early goal sealed a 1-0 win at Arsenal in a tense first leg of the semi-final on Tuesday.
Image: Franck Fife, AFP
Martyn Herman, in LONDON – Paris St Germain took a big step towards reaching the Champions League final as Ousmane Dembele's early goal sealed a 1-0 win at Arsenal in a tense first leg of the semi-final on Tuesday.
Dembele fired home off the post in the fourth minute as PSG dominated the opening stages and Luis Enrique's side held firm to beat Arsenal for the first time in six attempts and take a precious advantage back to the French capital.
Arsenal, playing in the semi-final for the first time since 2009, improved after a torrid start and had a Mikel Merino goal ruled out after the break while PSG keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma made several fine saves.
PSG weathered the storm though and should have given themselves a bigger cushion for the second leg but Bradley Barcola and Goncalo Ramos both squandered gilt-edged chances late on as the game became stretched.
Should PSG protect their advantage next Wednesday at home they will face either Inter Milan or Barcelona in the final in Munich and they will believe a first title in Europe's blue-riband club competition is now finally within reach.
"It was a great night for the group," PSG's mercurial midfielder Vitinha said. "We had the ball for most of the game.
"We had to adapt to the different circumstances of the match and we did, defending and attacking well."
While the result was a huge blow for Arsenal, all is not lost, according to keeper David Raya.
"We showed from the 25th minute that we can win against any team. We've shown this season we can win away from home, so we're going to go to Paris next week to win the game," he said.
Arsenal comfortably beat PSG 2-0 in north London in the early days of the league phase in October, but Luis Enrique's French champions have evolved into a formidable force and have been tipped as favourites to lift the title that owners Qatar Sports Investments have craved since buying the club in 2011.
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Since that defeat by Arsenal, PSG have been the scourge of English clubs, beating Manchester City in the league phase, knocking Premier League winners Liverpool out in the last 16 and dispatching Aston Villa in a quarter-final thriller.
Roared on by fanatical support, PSG barely gave a ragged Arsenal a kick for the opening 25 minutes, their pace and movement too much for Mikel Arteta's side.
The smoke from the pre-match pyrotechnics had barely cleared when PSG struck in devastating fashion.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia received the ball on the left and surged into the area before squaring for the outstanding Dembele to sweep a slightly mis-hit shot beyond Raya.
It was Dembele's eighth goal and 11th goal involvement in this season's competition, matching the club record of PSG's former talisman Kylian Mbappe.
Arsenal were rocking and it could have got worse. Leandro Trossard was booked for pulling down Achraf Hakimi as he broke clear and Marquinhos headed a Hakimi cross straight at Raya.
Kvaratskhelia was a thorn in the side of Arsenal throughout the first half and he was screaming for a penalty when he fell to the ground under a dubious challenge by Jurrien Timber.
Raya made further saves from Kvaratskhelia and Desire Doue before Arsenal finally began to clear their heads.
Gabriel Martinelli was agonisingly close to connecting with a cross by Bukayo Saka and then was denied by a low save from Donnarumma on the stroke of halftime.
Arsenal thought they had equalised straight after the break when Merino headed in Declan Rice's inswinging free kick but a lengthy VAR check ruled he had been just offside.
Arteta's side briefly took control and with PSG's defence creaking, Donnarumma made a stunning low save to turn a Trossard shot behind with his fingertips.
PSG might live to regret not leaving with more though as Barcola screwed a shot wide when clean through before Ramos struck an effort against the crossbar.
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