Paris Saint-Germain striker Ousmane Dembele fingers his facet benefit over Arsenal in Champions League semifinal.
Paris Saint-Germain took an enormous step in direction of reaching the Champions League last as Ousmane Dembele’s early objective sealed a 1-0 win at Arsenal in a tense first leg of the semifinal.
Dembele fired dwelling off the submit within the fourth minute as PSG dominated the opening phases on Tuesday, and Luis Enrique’s facet held agency to take a treasured benefit again to the French capital.
Arsenal, enjoying within the semifinal for the primary time since 2009, improved after a lacklustre begin and had a Mikel Merino objective dominated out after the break whereas PSG keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma made a number of effective saves.
PSG weathered the storm and will have given themselves a much bigger cushion for the second leg however Bradley Barcola and Goncalo Ramos each squandered gilt-edged possibilities late on.
Ought to PSG shield their benefit subsequent Wednesday at dwelling, they are going to face both Inter Milan or Barcelona in Munich and they’ll imagine a primary title in Europe’s blue riband membership competitors is now lastly inside attain.
Arsenal comfortably beat PSG 2-0 in north London within the early days of the league part in October, however Luis Enrique’s French champions have advanced right into a formidable power.
Since that defeat by Arsenal, PSG have been the scourge of English golf equipment, beating Manchester Metropolis within the league part, knocking Premier League winners Liverpool out within the final 16 and dispatching Aston Villa in a quarterfinal thriller.
Roared on by fanatical assist, PSG barely gave a ragged Arsenal a kick for the opening 25 minutes, their tempo and actions an excessive amount of for Mikel Arteta’s facet.
Smoke from the pre-match pyrotechnics had barely cleared when PSG struck.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia acquired the ball on the left and surged into the realm earlier than laying again a move for Dembele to comb a shot in off the submit previous David Raya.
It was Dembele’s eighth objective and eleventh objective involvement on this season’s competitors, matching the membership report of PSG’s former talisman Kylian Mbappe.
Arsenal have been rocking and it might have gotten worse. Leandro Trossard was booked for flattening Achraf Hakimi as he broke clear and Marquinhos headed a Hakimi cross straight at Raya.
Kvaratskhelia was a thorn within the facet of Arsenal all through the primary half and he was screaming for a penalty when he fell to the bottom below a doubtful problem by Jurrien Timber.
Raya made additional saves from Kvaratskhelia and Need Doue earlier than Arsenal lastly started to clear their heads.
Gabriel Martinelli was agonisingly near connecting with a cross by Bukayo Saka after which was denied by a low save from Donnarumma on the stroke of halftime.
Arsenal thought that they had equalised straight after the break when Merino headed in Declan Rice’s in-swinging free kick however a prolonged VAR verify dominated he had been simply offside.
Arteta’s facet briefly took management and with PSG’s defence creaking, Donnarumma made a surprising low save to show a Trossard shot behind together with his fingertips.
PSG would possibly reside to remorse not leaving with extra although as Barcola screwed a shot large when clear via earlier than Ramos struck an effort in opposition to the crossbar.
