Arsenal finally proved they can compete with the Big Boys in Europe
Last night the one and only Arsenal put on a show of strength and progress, hinting they’re ready to tackle the biggest clubs in the Champions League, once again!
Mikel Arteta’s soldiers tackled French side Paris Saint-Germain with masterful ease in the end putting them to bed 2-0, whilst the lights were shining brighter than ever in North London.
After 20 minutes Kai Havertz slotted The Gunners into a firm lead with a heroic header of his following a superb ball from Leandro Trossard, who’s arguably been one of Arsenals best players so far this season, outshining the currently injured Martin Odegaard in the middle of the park who’s yet to return.
Ten minutes before the break, Arsenal wrapped up the all important victory scoring from a free-kick from outside the box, causing us Gooners in the crowd to go wild.
Arsenal sent a statement to not only the rest of Europe last night that we are ready again to compete for the most prestigious pieces of club silverware, but to the World!
In the post match conference Mikel Arteta spoke about Arsenal’s control of the game:”to be so dominant to score the two goals and then we wanted that different second half probably and continued to be that dominant.”
The Spaniard also mentioned the impressive form of Havertz: “so powerful, so intelligent the way he occupies the spaces the way he puts everything together, his work ethic, and now he’s around the box and you have the feeling that he’s going to score a goal. The goal was superb.”
PSG have been one of the most respected teams in Europe in recent years reaching the Champions League final in 2020, losing narrowly 1-0 to German Giants Bayern Munich.
Since then they have reached the semi-finals of the competition twice. The last time Arsenal reached the semi-finals of the Champions League was almost 20 years ago, when Manchester United destroyed our hopes of a second final in three years in 2009.
The Paris side have completely dominated their own domestic league in the past 12 seasons, clinching Ligue 1 ten times in that time.
They are currently tied level on points (16) at the top of the division with second place Monaco and are potentially on course for a Ligue 1 quadruple of titles.
The days of beating the top teams in Europe during the early years of the 21st century have vanished from that of the memories of young Gooners. It’s hard to believe now that we were the first English side to win at the Bernabeu, beating Real Madrid 1-0 in 2006 during the round of 16. On top of that slaughtering Inter Milan 5-1 at the most adored San Siro in 2003, and lets’ not forget reaching the 2006 Champions League final which we lost 2-1 to Barcelona despite leading.
Hopefully those European nights of glory are returning after dismantling PSG with a fresh wave of confidence and prosperity!
Liam Harding
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