Category: UEFA Competitions

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.”

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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.

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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.

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Real Madrid could not live with his relentlessness but how will Rice fare against João Neves, Fabián Ruiz and Vitinha?

Declan Rice went into Arsenal’s Champions League quarter‑final against Real Madrid knowing it was a chance to go to another level. Rise to the occasion against the kings of Europe and people would see the midfielder in a different light. Remember the boy who was kicked out of Chelsea at 14? The tearful one who travelled across London for a trial at West Ham, went on to captain them to their first trophy in 43 years, and left for £105m? Well, the thing you need to know about him is that he has never been afraid to meet a challenge head on and make people think twice about questioning his talent.

So Rice backed himself when he faced Madrid and left Jude Bellingham, Eduardo Camavinga, Luka Modric and Aurélien Tchouaméni in the shade by producing man-of-the-match displays in both legs. He drove Arsenal on, powering them forward, bending the tie to his will. Madrid, the reigning European champions, could not live with his relentlessness. There was hype around Rice’s duel with Bellingham, but it did not live up to much. There was no debate about who dominated the battle between the two leaders of England’s midfield.

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• Manager said club ‘feel’ lack of Champions League trophy
• Mikel Merino could replace Thomas Partey in midfield

Mikel Arteta has told the Arsenal support to “bring your boots” and a can-do attitude for the Champions League semi-final first-leg at home against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night, as he radiated conviction that the club was primed to make history.

The manager described the game as the biggest of his career and one of the most significant hosted by the Emirates Stadium, which opened for the 2006-07 season. It is Arsenal’s third appearance in the last four of Europe’s elite competition, after the victory against Villarreal in 2005-06 and the defeat by Manchester United in 2008-09.

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• Manager says side is more complete since October meeting
• ‘We are full of confidence and looking forward to playing’

Luis Enrique believes that Paris Saint-Germain’s record against English clubs in the Champions League this season should give them confidence as they prepare to face Arsenal in the semi-final, and he hinted that he does not view the Premier League as the best in the world.

The French champions face Mikel Arteta’s side at the Emirates Stadium in the first leg on Tuesday having already knocked out Liverpool and Aston Villa to reach the last four after finishing 15th in the league stage. Enrique suggested that their experience of playing against English clubs could be an advantage as they attempt to reach the final for only the second time in their history.

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• Club given 2,000 tickets for Paris semi-final second leg
• Supporters’ Trust request Arsenal join them in appeal

Arsenal have been urged by their supporters’ trust to make an official complaint to Uefa as a row about ticket allocations for the Champions League semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain escalates.

It is understood the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust plans to lodge a complaint with European football’s governing body after they were given only 2,000 tickets for next week’s second leg in France. That is 500 below the 5% away teams are entitled to by Uefa in European competitions, although PSG were given special dispensation to reduce that to 4.1% before the start of the season owing to a request from local police.

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As Inter and Barcelona meet again in a Champions League semi-final, it’s hard to ignore their epochal clash in 2010

Has there been a Champions League tie since that has felt more consequential? As Inter travel to Barcelona for Wednesday’s semi-final first leg, the mind turns inevitably to their 1-0 reverse at the Camp Nou 15 years ago – “the most beautiful defeat of my career” as José Mourinho has described it.

Playing with 10 men for a little over an hour, Inter secured a 3-2 aggregate victory. Suddenly it became apparent that it didn’t matter whether you had the ball or not: you could win even with 19% possession. But the outcome was only part of it. The whole tie was played out amid an apocalyptic atmosphere symbolised by the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull, whose eruption made it impossible to fly over western Europe, forcing Barcelona to travel to Milan for the first leg by bus.

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As Everton leave their beautiful old stadium, we look back on a game that lives on in the hearts of all who saw it

By That 1980s Sports Blog

“If you talk to any Evertonian who was there that night, who actually got in this ground that night, and you said, ‘You can take one game to the grave with you’. Say there was 55,000, I’m betting you 50,000 would take this game with them.” Andy Gray’s words about the second leg of Everton’s semi-final against Bayern Munich in the Cup Winners’ Cup are not hyperbole. Admittedly the official crowd figure was 49,476 but, that apart, Gray is right about how Everton fans feel about the match of 24 April 1985. It was the ultimate night in the history of Goodison Park.

It was an evening that flooded the senses: two superb teams packed with great players were both chasing trebles. Neither of them took a backward step as the line between success and failure shifted throughout 90 minutes of intense football. And it was all played out in the kind of atmosphere that has to be heard to be believed.

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Unai Emery has built a side with high standards and a squad with depth – they’ll need both in the coming weeks

• Sign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson here

Most teams in the battle for Champions League qualification are staggering to the line, battered, exhausted, done in by a season that feels like it finished in February but somehow still has a month to run. But as they falter, Aston Villa have seemingly found another gear.

Liverpool are secure in the Champions League qualification slots and Arsenal soon will be, which leaves the remaining three places between five contenders who are separated by just two points, although Nottingham Forest face Tottenham on Monday. Forest, though, have won just three of their last eight in the league. Newcastle had won six in a row in all competitions before Saturday’s 4-1 defeat to Villa. Manchester City are unbeaten in five in the league. Chelsea have won five of their last 11 in the league and have a notably tough run-in. But Villa have won 10 of 11 in all competitions, the only blip their Champions League defeat away to Paris Saint-Germain. There is no question that they are the side in form.

This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition.

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With one trophy and hundreds of millions up for grabs, league position means more than pride as TV payouts shape the financial future of every club

Points mean prizes. And money. Lots and lots of money. Only one trophy is handed out at the conclusion of the Premier League season, meaning the most tangible reward most teams are playing for over the final few weeks of the campaign is a bigger check.

Last season, each Premier League team received anywhere between £175.9m and £109.7m for their participation in the self-styled Greatest League in the World. These payouts take into account everything from league position, the number of matches broadcast on TV and commercial revenue among other factors.

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