Arsenal shut out by Paris Saint-Germain and have huge mountain to climb ...Middle East

Arsenal 0-1 PSG (Dembele 4′)

EMIRATES — Arsenal are still breathing, at least. A faint heartbeat still recognisable in their Champions League semi-final. The tie alive.

For a while it had looked as though they would endure death by a thousand passes at the feet of Paris Saint-Germain, their opponents out-thinking and out-playing them in their own home in a mesmerising first-leg.

But Arsenal, for their part, managed to regain some composure, to wrestle some control back from a game that was slipping through their fingers like water. They travel to Paris next week a goal down, but hopes intact.

Mikel Arteta had told Arsenal’s fans to bring their boots for this momentous occasion, but 50,000 fans were still lacing them in their seats by the time PSG took the lead with a devastating goal after only 197 seconds.

WHAT A STRIKE FROM OUSMANE DEMBELE

PSG go ahead quickly at the Emirates thanks to the Frenchman's goal#UCLonPrime pic.twitter.com/hZe3vSLIhO

— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) April 29, 2025

Arsenal had barely touched the ball, PSG exchanging an exceptional 26 passes before Ousmane Dembele’s strike, leaving them with plenty of bodies in the penalty area when the move advanced into it yet still, somehow, taken by surprise.

Dembele’s pass out wide to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – the penultimate of the move – was a little off, and Kvaratskhelia had to go out of his way to retrieve it before driving into the side of Arsenal’s box.

Just inside, he flicked the ball back to Dembele with the outside of his boot, and Dembele stroked it first-time, bouncing the ball in via the far post.

It was the 45th goal and assist this season – 30 in 2025 alone – for a 27-year-old who will be a hot topic in Premier League recruitment meetings ahead of this summer and, if PSG can win the Champions League, a serious Ballon d’Or contender.

Dembele landed the fatal first blow, but PSG had started ferociously, like a prize fighter raining down jabs and combinations so quickly the limbs and fists blur.

Gabriel Martinelli is denied an equaliser by an excellent Donnarumma save #UCLonPrime pic.twitter.com/yful49ZWaw

— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) April 29, 2025

Arsenal didn’t know what hit them.

In front of a wild Emirates crowd, they had only 25 per cent possession in the opening 15 minutes. By 20, Bukayo Saka had four touches, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli three, Leandro Trossard two.

There was the semblance of an attack there – the idea and feel of one – but without a proper striker to hook everything on, to hold the ensemble together, it was almost as though an attack did not exist.

They would’ve been two down had David Raya not pulled off a sharp dive low to his left to keep out Desire Doue’s shot.

All Arsenal’s frustrations were epitomised by a moment of petulance from Saka late in the half.

Saka felt he had won the ball fairly from Nuno Mendes close to a PSG corner flag, only Gianluigi Donnarumma between him and the goal.

But the linesman flagged, the referee blew his whistle, and Saka was booked for booting the ball towards goal before screaming.

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But Arsenal dusted themselves off and, after a little swaying, stood up to the challenge.

Donnarumma had to make stunning, strong-wristed saves down low from Martinelli and Trossard.

There are moments that can charge the course of big ties, and one arrived within two minutes of the restart.

The set piece kings looked to have struck again when Declan Rice swung in a free kick and Mikel Merino glanced in a header. To the naked eye, it appeared on, and the referee awarded the goal. But the VAR wanted another look.

It was another innovative Arsenal orchestration – every attacking player well offside on the far side, jogging into the middle as one and seemingly slotting in onside as Rice struck the ball.

The wait was long. When it was over, the VAR deemed Merino was a hair’s breadth offside.

Nonetheless, Arsenal established a hold in the game in the second. But still Luis Enrique made the more decisive substitutions.

In the final 10 minutes, Bradley Barcola came on from the bench and burst through Arsenal’s defence, only to roll the ball agonisingly wide. And, a minute later, Goncalo Ramos, another substitution, had time in the box and poked the ball at goal, beating Raya but hitting the crossbar.

The tie could look healthier, but Arsenal will reflect between now and the second leg how much worse it could be.

They are still 90 minutes away from a first Champions League final in almost 20 years. Still breathing. Hearts still beating. Still alive.

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