Category: Football (Soccer)

We’re down to the last four teams, and the semi-finals didn’t disappoint, even if they were played in contrasting styles

Paris Saint-Germain

Lamine Yamal was the star of this six-goal thriller, an instant classic, though Denzel Dumfries and Marcus Thuram weren’t too far behind

Inter get the ball rolling. They’re playing in white this evening. And they’re immediately on the attack …

Here come the teams … and Lamine Yamal, who felt a twinge upon slipping while taking a shot in the warm-up, is still in the Barcelona line-up. He doesn’t look particularly concerned as the Champions League anthem is blasted out, nor when he slaps hands with the Inter players. No Ronaldo-at-the-Stade-de-France-style drama to see here. We’ll be off in a minute, once everyone pays their respects to Pope Francis.

Mikel Merino says team have the quality, motivation and mentality to turn Champions League semi-final on its head

The fighting talk comes as standard. Arsenal are down after Tuesday night’s 1-0 home defeat against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League semi-final first leg – but not out.

“This team … you can never give up on us,” Mikel Merino says. “Because I think we proved that we are always going to fight until the end. We have the technical quality and most important we have the motivation to go to the second leg and win this for our fans and for ourselves.”

The former Leeds forward was on the periphery but is now key to Hansi Flick’s team thanks to his hunger for goals

To score, first you have to learn how to miss. Raphinha, to be fair, misses a lot. Most common of all, perhaps, is the low screamer, dragged across goal with the left foot, disappearing into the advertising hoardings with an unseen thud as the goalkeeper calmly strolls off in search of a fresh ball. If you close your eyes and try to picture Raphinha missing, this is almost certainly the miss you are imagining.

But Raphinha can miss in a plethora of other ways, too. The wild slice at the back post is another favourite. The free-kick into the wall. The mistimed header sailing harmlessly over the bar and Raphinha has never been the greatest header of a ball, but he is going to keep making the run nonetheless, again and again, all night if he has to. If it feels weird to begin a discussion of one of Europe’s most prolific forwards by listing all the ways he can miss then one helps to explain the other. Raphinha is a winger rather than a pure striker, but the trait he has in common with all the world’s great goalscorers is the ability to prize volume over grace, to put the last miss out of his mind, to keep coming and keep shooting with a ruthless, relentless hunger.

Ousmane Dembele’s early goal gave PSG a deserved victory at the Emirates and left Arsenal with a mountain to climb

Mikel Arteta’s pre-match thoughts

We’re excited: it’s a big game, a big night for us and a massive opportunity to take the next step.

[On the atmosphere] We have to generate one of the most amazing nights at this stadium [Theo Walcott, on Amazon Prime, whips out his boots in accordance with Arteta’s pre-match instructions]. Get ready, get ready just in case!

I tell them [the supporters], and I’m not exaggerating here: ‘Guys, bring your boots, bring your shorts, bring your T-shirts and let’s play every ball together. We want to do something special. The place has to be something special, something that we haven’t seen. I really hope that everybody that comes to the Emirates and is watching and following us, brings that energy with them.