Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal faced off this Tuesday at Emirates Stadium in the semi-finals of the Champions League 2024-2025 (return on May 7). The match ended in a 0-1 Parisian victory (video highlights Arsenal/PSG). After the match, the English team’s coach Mikel Arteta spoke at a press conference.
Arteta: “There’s very little difference”.
What’s your analysis of this performance?
It’s half-time in this semi-final, as I said after the 3-0 win over Real Madrid. We have to go to Paris to win, and we’re capable of doing it. I’ve seen two great teams, and there’s very little difference between them. They were more efficient.
What did we miss?
We took a goal, without scoring. But we did some good things on the pitch. PSG were able to play a great combined game at the start, and we had some problems, but we managed to sort out the problems and the rest was better.
To win this competition, you have to do something special. And that’s what we want to do in Paris next week.
What did you change to solve the problem?
No, I can’t say (smiles).
Arteta “We made the necessary change and it was better.”
It’s rare for a team to dominate against Arsenal the way PSG did, were you worried?
We had a problem with specific moments, with the ball. We didn’t have the opportunities to press.
What went wrong at the start of the match?
Nothing much. It’s a very precise, very important aspect. We made the necessary changes and it was better. We could have scored, but Donnarumma made some fine saves, as he did against Aston Villa and Liverpool. We had a goal disallowed. It wasn’t our night.
Is it 50-50?
I don’t know, I haven’t looked at the statistics. But we had chances and we want to postpone the second leg. We’ll have to pull out all the stops.
What do you think of the referee being targeted by the fans with whistles?
I’ve nothing to add.
Arteta “We’re going to attack the return leg with a lot of desire and hope in order to qualify.”
What needs to be improved in the return leg? Rooney was disappointed by the atmosphere, what do you think?
You always have to improve, in every area. These games against a team like this are always decided by detail. We’re going to attack the return leg with a lot of desire and hope to qualify.
Too many stoppages by the referee?
I’m not complaining, the referee does his job as well as he can.
Arteta: “We can’t dominate for 90 minutes.
Should we have had the ball more? To dominate for the whole match?
No, we couldn’t. PSG dominated the other English teams, you can’t dominate for 90 minutes. You have to forget about that. We need to understand which areas of the pitch need to be protected.
Will we need a significantly different performance at the Parc des Princes?
No, I don’t think so. We can improve, of course, to get a better result.
