Arsenal went to Paris on Wednesday with belief and ambition, with dreams of a Champions League comeback. It came with desire and drive, with fight and a front-foot plan, with the “big balls” that Declan Rice said would be required. But it came without penalty-box punch, and fell to PSG — 2-1 in Wednesday’s semifinal second leg, and 3-1 on aggregate.
The Gunners arrived with a one-goal deficit, but with hope. They came with energy and initiative. They brought Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard, Rice and Gabriel Martinelli. And for 90 minutes at the Parc des Princes, they pushed, and searched for a path back into the two-leg matchup.
But they came without a striker. And after an early flurry of chances, they ran out of ideas.
They also ran into the hottest goalkeeper in the world, Gianluigi Donnarumma.
The hulking PSG keeper tipped or pushed away Arsenal’s best efforts. He preempted any momentum. He ultimately deflated and shut down a wounded attack that has been without a true No. 9 since Kai Havertz went down with injury in February.
And he watched as, at the other end, Fabian Ruiz and Achraf Hakimi sent their club soaring into the Champions League final.
Ruiz doubled PSG’s aggregate lead in the 27th minute, with a well-struck and deflected volley that screamed into the corner of the Arsenal net.
And midway through the second half, Hakimi kickedoff a Paris party.
Hakimi beat David Raya in the 72nd minute, and that’s when the Parc des Princes really erupted. Flares lit up. A cocktail of smoke and noise wafted over the field. Songs and claps rang around the ground as fans bounced, their mood triumphant.
A scrappy, fluky Arsenal goal four minutes later quieted the early celebrations.
But in the end, this remade PSG team, reborn after the fall of its megastar era, got to where it belonged: the final.
It will be May 31 in Munich, against Inter Milan. It will be the second European final in club history, and a chance to confirm what the past few months have suggested: that the Parisians, once overlooked after the departure of Kylian Mbappé, are perhaps the best team in Europe, and perhaps even in all of soccer.
[Yahoo Sport]