Champions League – Arsenal, the unexpected big piece that rushes towards PSG

“They were superior to us on the two matches. It should not happen like that normally. We are Real Madrid.” The words of Aurélien Tchouaméni on Canal+ after the quarter -final return between Arsenal and his merengue perfectly describe the reality of this double confrontation. One team completely mastered the debates while the other has never found how to exist. But it was the one that was absent from the last square in the Champions League since 2009 which had the right role, while the title holder crashed.

A breath of freshness far from illogical, but rather unexpected, it must be said. Not that we did not see Real Madrid, clearly ill for several weeks, ended up paying his absence of collective alchemy. Who, on the other hand, imagined Arsenal inviting himself among the best four teams in Europe without Gabriel, his most important defender with William Saliba, nor number 9 of trade, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz squatting the infirmary?

His classification during the league phase (3rd) could possibly suggest it. But his career had so far had not drawn attention, with only two big European juggers faced, Inter (1-0 defeat), and a PSG far from being the one today (2-0 victory). It is not his eighth final in slippers against the PSV Eindhoven who was going to change this reading (7-1, 2-2). And then, Arsenal is Arsenal, we say is still regularly. This beautiful loser who hangs Manchester City or Liverpool in the Premier League but finished 2nd. Who looks at Bayern in his eyes for his return to C1 last season, but comes out in quarters (2-2, 0-1).

Except that this team is on a slope almost always ascending since the arrival of Mikel Arteta. And that today, his master's degree with ball does not prevent him from making great serenity without. A complete team, in summary, in front of which even Thibaut Courtois, however not always the most elegant losers, bowed.

“Arsenal is a team that defends well, organized, the wingers come back, the attacker too …. Raya did not need to make a single big stop. We lost against a higher arsenal and we must accept it, analyzed the Belgian porter at the end of the meeting. It is a team that defends well, which presses well, and it is difficult to find spaces “.

Paris is therefore warned. He will not face the biggest constellation of stars of the latter square. But a collective perfectly established and above all full of confidence. “The first leg had given us so much confidence and belief in ourselves that we were here to win this matchexplained Declan Rice at the microphone of TNT Sports after the meeting. We knew we were going to suffer, but we knew we were going to win. I felt it when I signed (in 2023, editor's note), we were on an ascending trajectory as a club. This club will do really special things in the coming years. “

And already does this this season, by offering itself the third semi-final of C1 of its history, with the firm intention of transforming it into the second final, after that lost against Barça in 2006. It will first go through Paris, therefore, and a park of princes that Mikel Arteta knows very well for having walked the lawn during a season and a half.

“It's going to be a very special moment to find the park”recognized the Gunners coach on Canal +. To find Luis Enrique, too, a compatriot whose work he admires and whose team has changed so much since their confrontation on October 1. This time when Kang-in Lee started the match in new fake was over. And this reunion promises to be absolutely exciting.