How Arsenal can make history in Paris: Inside Mikel Arteta's PSG mission | OneFootball

It’s a fearsome task after first-leg defeat, but there are plenty of reasons the Gunners can salvage their semi-final

Gathering his Arsenal team-mates in a huddle before they faced Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night, Declan Rice had a simple message.

For much of the first leg of Arsenal’s Champions League semi-final, it looked like Rice’s words would prove to be prophetic - but their European dream is still alive.

Mikel Arteta’s side head to Paris next week trailing by a solitary goal and there will surely be some relief among those at Arsenal that the deficit is not greater.

Tuesday’s defeat was bookended by PSG showing why their manager Luis Enrique views them as a “complete team”. At times, their attack resembled a sprint relay team, such was their pace, and no more so was that the case than with Ousmane Dembele.

The forward’s goal in the fourth minute, his 25th since the turn of the year, came after a move that contained 26 passes.

Ousmane Dembele scored the only goal as Arsenal lost 1-0 against PSG in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final

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That is the most for a goal conceded by Arsenal in the Champions League since data specialists Opta began recording more than 20 years ago.

It sums up the scale of the task that awaits Arsenal at the Parc des Princes.

The Gunners beat holders Real Madrid at the Bernabeu only a fortnight ago, but toppling this PSG team would eclipse even that feat.

History is not on Arsenal’s side as they bid to turn this tie around.

Only two teams have reached the Champions League final after losing the first leg of their semi-final tie at home, with one of those being the Gunners’ arch rivals, Tottenham, six years ago when they beat Ajax in Amsterdam.

Arteta, however, will take heart from his side’s excellent away record recently.

Arsenal have not conceded more than once on the road in any of their past 10 European matches, while in their previous four they have scored 16 goals.

The tactical battle

The return of Thomas Partey, who was suspended for the first leg, will be a major boost.

Arsenal missed his presence in midfield and, especially early on, PSG exploited all the spaces the Ghanaian usually occupies.

Dembele’s goal typified that, with the forward able to drive from inside his own half to outside the Arsenal box before finding Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

The Georgian, who terrorised Arsenal and showed why Gareth Southgate once compared him to George Best, found Dembele with the return pass and his finish punctured what had been a raucous atmosphere.

Arsenal have work to do in Paris next week if they are to reach the Champions League final

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Rice could be seen signalling for calm after that, but there was little Arsenal could do to stop the PSG onslaught.

Arteta admitted afterwards the team corrected “an issue” they had in the first 20 minutes, although he would not reveal exactly what that was.

It could easily have been related to Arsenal’s press. The defence lacked protection and Rice, who covered so much ground brilliantly in both legs against Real Madrid, was shackled at the base of midfield as he deputised for Partey.

Rice can return to an advanced role for the second leg, which should allow his influence to grow.

At times on Tuesday, he was able to cause PSG problems by picking up the ball and surging forward, with Myles Lewis-Skelly tucking in from left-back to give him the licence to do so.

Arsenal showed signs of life against PSG when, as Rice had predicted, they had the ball.

The Gunners had just over 30 per cent possession in the opening half an hour on Tuesday, but that number grew to 50 per cent between the 30th and 60th minutes.

That is the period Arteta will take most heart from when heading to Paris and it should give his players belief that PSG are vulnerable.

Aston Villa showed that in the second leg of their quarter-final, when they scored twice in the first 12 minutes of the second half to have PSG rocking.

Villa played with intensity and physicality, while they benefited from being direct in their passing.

Arsenal will be able to replicate that next week as the return of Partey will allow Mikel Merino to move back upfront.

Merino is a midfielder by trade, but he has shone as an emergency striker since February during an injury crisis for Arsenal in that position.

He was inches from giving Arsenal an equaliser at the Emirates, but VAR ruled him offside when heading home from a set-piece.

Merino can give Arsenal a focal point in attack and the chance to go long, which looks the best way to beat PSG’s swarming press.

Mikel Arteta will be boosted by the return to Thomas Partey for the second leg

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Many of Arsenal’s better moments on Tuesday came when they exploited the space in behind PSG’s full-backs, who are encouraged to get forward, with Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard both denied by good saves from Gianluigi Donnarumma.

The PSG goalkeeper, as he so often does, turned up when his side needed him most and his five saves on Tuesday was his joint highest in a Champions League game this season.

Arsenal will know they need to be ruthless next week and take the chances they get, especially from set-pieces.

For all of Donnarumma’s heroics, he can be shaky under crosses and 38 per cent of the goals PSG have conceded this season have come via set-pieces.

They have always been a significant weapon for Arsenal, but are even more vital now.

The same goes for Martin Odegaard, who needs to deliver a captain’s performance. The Norwegian has had a difficult season - one blighted by injury - but his influence on Tuesday’s game was still far too small for a player of his calibre.

Arsenal have to score in Paris and their chances of doing so will greatly improve if they can get their most creative player in the game more.

Merino moving back upfront should help Odegaard as, perhaps more than anyone, the Norwegian benefits in having a target man to play off.

Odegaard getting on the ball more should help Bukayo Saka’s influence grow, too.

The winger had the odd bright moment on Tuesday, particularly towards the end of the first half, but could not deliver his usual impact.

Saka stepped up in the Bernabeu in the quarter-finals and Arsenal need another huge performance from him in the French capital.

Enrique’s influence

This will be Arteta’s first return to Paris as a manager, but had he had his way he might never have left at all.

It was the summer of 2002 and the end of a loan spell that had begun with a professional debut and finished with a reputation as one of Europe’s brightest young midfielders.

“I was so happy there, I wanted to stay,” Arteta said, but PSG failed to agree a deal with his parent club, Barcelona, and so Rangers swooped instead.

The significance of Arteta’s time in Paris often gets lost in the story of a career moulded by its contrasting influences and experiences; of the purist education at La Masia and the grounding in British football at Ibrox; of the years playing under the divergent philosophies of Arsene Wenger and David Moyes; of supporting Pep Guardiola at the helm of the Premier League’s dominant team, then going it alone in taking charge of his old club on its knees.

Not, though, to the man himself, who counts those 18 months at the Parc des Princes as crucially formative because it “ignited something in me to become a manager”.

PSG boss Luis Enrique

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For Arteta, it would be fitting to reach the Champions League final by winning in the city where his desire to become a coach began and also against a manager he so greatly admires.

Arteta and Enrique’s relationship dates back to their playing days together at Barcelona nearly 30 years ago.

Enrique was an established starter, with Arteta the hungry youngster who was eager to learn.

That admiration for Enrique has continued during Arteta’s managerial career and coming back to beat this PSG side would undoubtedly rank as one of his finest achievements.

“For me, he’s one of the best coaches in the world and someone who helped me a huge amount,” Arteta has said. “What I love about him is wherever he’s been, as a player or a manager, his fingerprints are all over the place.”

Paris holds fond memories for Arteta, not least because one of his room-mates during his playing days at PSG was Ronaldinho.

Arteta also played alongside the Brazilian in midfield, albeit the term “partner” is used loosely.

“I had to do all the defending because I had Ronaldinho and Okocha in front of me,” Arteta recalled ahead of the group stage meeting between the sides in October. “Imagine!”

To Arsenal fans, talk of Ronaldinho and Paris evokes memories not of Arteta’s French exchange but of the Champions League final of 2006.

It was then that the Brazilian was the talisman of a Barcelona side that broke red hearts in the Stade de France.

Not before or since have they been party to European football’s biggest game.

To lead his team there once more, Arteta must come through a trip down memory lane.

Tougher than the Bernabeu

It was at the Parc des Princes, 31 years ago, that the famous chant of “1-0 to the Arsenal” was born.

Arteta would definitely take that scoreline next week, given it would mean his side were just a penalty shootout away from a first Champions League final since 2006.

The Gunners have never won the Champions League and throughout this run Arteta has stressed the chance for his players to make history.

They have done that with a famous win at the Bernabeu - but a victory in Paris would top that.

“The atmosphere at the Parc des Princes is extraordinary,” said PSG boss Enrique. “I’ve experienced it as an opponent. It’s a heavy, imposing, intimidating atmosphere. It’s not easy for teams to impose their game.”

Arteta will be confident that his players can cope and is likely to point to Arsenal’s recent win at Real Madrid.

“Going to the Bernabeu is probably the biggest test that you can have as a European team, because of the history and a lot of the things that happened there,” he said.

“I think we managed that game really, really well and that brings confidence and experience to a team that most of us, we never had before.”

The proof will have to come under the severest of tests in Paris on Wednesday night.