Outside the Emirates Stadium a few days before this semi-final series got underway, a representative from French television was asking around, trying to get a feel for the two clubs in advance of this intriguing tie.
There was, he reckoned, a special connection. Here are two substantial football institutions, from two of the great cities of the world, both still waiting to bask in the radiance of a first Champions League success. His turn of phrase was sharp enough to make both clubs wince. Were Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal in some way “loser brothers”? Ooof.
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One is about to get closer to potentially tearing themselves away from that painful association. The likelihood is it will be PSG, able to host the second leg with a one goal advantage against an opponent whose mood has been bashed in the past week, although football has thrown up enough surprises in its storied past to ensure that cannot be a certainty.
Arsenal were hurt not just by the result of the first leg. There was a necessary acknowledgement of how advanced their opponent was, technically and strategically. Perhaps that feeling deepened after watching the high-class trading of blows between Barcelona and Inter in their own opening bout over on the other side of the draw.
A disappointed Martin Odegaard applauds the home support at the Emirates (Michael Steele/Getty Images)
If there is a broader perspective to be drawn at half time in these ties, it’s not unjust or unfair to conclude that Arsenal are undercooked compared to the others.
Maybe that is not completely surprising. They are the younger brother who has got himself into the nightclub with an elder sibling and his mates. They don’t yet have too much experience of what really goes on there. It is exciting and where they want to be, but to be completely comfortable and able to confidently strut around might be easier next time. In Champions League terms, they are gangly teenagers in a room full of good-looking 21-year-olds.
After a six-year hiatus of Europa League and even no Europe at all, this is only Arsenal’s second season back in the Champions League. By comparison, all the other semi-finalists have been kicking around in the knockouts for multiple successive years. That was Arsenal’s world throughout almost all of the Arsene Wenger era, especially in the early 2000s when they had a tremendous team capable of winning it, but it has taken a lot of readjustment and rebuilding to get back towards that sense of being regular competitors who feel like they even have a chance in the competition.
Semi-finalists’ Champions League records
| Season | Arsenal | PSG | Barcelona | Inter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2024-25 |
SF |
SF |
SF |
SF |
|
2023-24 |
QF |
SF |
QF |
Last 16 |
|
2022-23 |
– |
Last 16 |
Group stage |
Final |
|
2021-22 |
– |
Last 16 |
Group stage |
Last 16 |
|
2020-21 |
– |
SF |
Last 16 |
Group stage |
|
2019-20 |
– |
Final |
QF |
Group stage |
|
2018-19 |
– |
Last 16 |
SF |
Group stage |
|
2017-18 |
– |
Last 16 |
QF |
– |
|
2016-17 |
Last 16 |
Last 16 |
QF |
– |
|
2015-16 |
Last 16 |
QF |
QF |
– |
For Arsenal, digesting the frustration of the first-leg damage is something they had to do quickly, with that task made tougher by the frailties they showed in defeat by Bournemouth at the weekend. Come the end of the season, there will be a longer evaluation.
Josh Kroenke, representing the owners, was around to watch the home game against PSG from close quarters, as he was for the highs of the previous round against Real Madrid. A few euros, also, for the thoughts of Andrea Berta, the newly installed sporting director who arrived with big intent to turn Arsenal into winners. What are the hierarchy thinking of to help the club climb another rung or so up the ladder?
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The last two transfer windows did not do a great deal to help Arsenal tangibly improve this season. From last summer’s new arrivals, only Mikel Merino is a success story and perhaps even he would agree that has been a recent feeling after several months damaged by injury and then diminished by time to find his form. Riccardo Calafiori has had repeated fitness issues and Raheem Sterling’s impact has been painfully ineffective. Come January, in obvious need of attacking reinforcements, Arsenal did nothing.
Meanwhile, last summer, PSG recruited three players who were brilliant against Arsenal — Desire Doue, Joao Neves and Willian Pacho — and for the super sweet cherry on top, with a click of their fingers, along came Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in January to add a beautiful new match-winning dimension.
Bukayo Saka attempts to quell Kvaratskhelia (Michael Steele/Getty Images)
It is way too facile to say this tie swings on transfer windows, but that contrast should be food for thought when Arsenal regroup at the end of this campaign.
Arteta has broadly developed Arsenal over recent years based on the virtues of control and becoming hard to beat. But what they are missing is both quality and quantity when it comes to match winners. The magicians, the flash of maverick, the audacity mixed with ruthlessness that the best possess.
Although they are getting by in attack given the long-term injuries to Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus, it is just reality that Bukayo Saka is surely the only forward player any of their semi-final opponents would covet. That is not normally enough for the climax of the Champions League. If Arsenal can turn this around and reach the promised land under current circumstances, it will be a testament to incredible collective effort and willpower (and maybe some luck, which everyone needs).
Could Arsenal have done some things better over the past season and past two transfer windows? Yes.
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Would they wish not to have had their momentum constantly interrupted all season by serious injuries to key players, thus having to improvise and also overplay others? Yes.
Might this semi-final feel more even if Arsenal were not hampered by the sick list and had the physicality and leadership of Gabriel at the back and the size and experience of Havertz up front? Yes.
Arsenal don’t go into this second leg weighted down by expectation. Make it interesting. Give it everything. Relish it.
And just to return to the “loser brothers” idea, over the past decade, Barcelona, whose most recent win was 10 years ago, have not been particularly impressive by their own high ideals. Inter’s victory 15 years ago was their first since the 1960s. Whoever wins this year will not be taking it for granted.
(Top photo: Alex Pantling – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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