‘We were much better than them’. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta there, proving that some people shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near microphones.
Let’s cut to the chase. Paris Saint-Germain’s 3-1 aggregate victory over the Gunners in the Champions League semi-final was thoroughly deserved.
Arteta’s side came out swinging in the second leg at the Parc des Princes last night, but were ultimately not good enough to get the job done.
They have now played eight semi-final matches since 2020/21. Number of victories? Zero.
Arsenal have also come up short again in the Premier League. If Jose Mourinho still worked in England, he’d call Arteta a ‘specialist in failure’.
It would be feasible to write a book covering the reasons why the Gunners have repeatedly lost big games.
Their latest failure is pretty easy to analyse. When they needed to produce a big performance in a big game, their big hitters failed to deliver.
William Saliba, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli were among the players who were nowhere near their best against PSG.
Bukayo Saka can be partially excused after giving Nuno Mendes a tough time, but missing a glorious chance late in the game is also worthy of criticism.
And then we come to Declan Rice. The £105 million midfielder was signed to help Arsenal win major silverware. It’s not going well.
Rice was praised for his standout performances against Real Madrid in the quarter-final.
However, he needed to prove he could reach the same heights in an even bigger tie against the Ligue 1 champions. He didn’t.
Rice spent most of the semi-final chasing shadows as Joao Neves, Vitinha and Fabian Ruiz dictated proceedings in the middle of the park.
As Roy Keane demonstrated for Manchester United against Juventus in the 1998/99 semi-final, top players haul their teams over the line in the face of adversity.
Rice had a glorious opportunity to prove the doubters wrong against PSG, but failed to deliver. Ultimately, he isn’t all he is cracked up to be.
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