Wow.
What a roller coaster few minutes these have been for Arsenal fans.
The noise when Mikel Merino scored almost lifted the roof of the Emirates, producing a moment of intense catharsis after a painfully frustrating first half.
An agonizing wait inside the stadium for a VAR review seemed to drag on for an age (how are VAR offside reviews still taking this long in 2025?) before the announcement that the goal had been disallowed sucked that newfound enthusiasm out of this place.
The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) has come to PSG’s rescue.
Mikel Merino thought he had scored but the midfielder was in an offside position as Declan Rice crossed the ball.
It took a long time for VAR to determine the decision.
Score: Arsenal 0-1 PSG
On current form, Declan Rice has to be one of the best players in the world right now.
Keep in mind, prior to the games against Real Madrid, he’d never before scored a free kick in his senior professional career. Then, in a matter of minutes, came two of the finest strikes you’re likely to see in a long, long time.
Rice’s free kick just now was never intended to score but if he is given another chance, he may want to try.
All season long, Arsenal has come up with creative ways to take set-pieces, which have resulted in a decent amount of goals across the current campaign.
Alas for the Arsenal, the semi-automated technology showed that Merino had strayed offside. Nevertheless, the disallowed goal was the closest the home team has come to scoring, and this game is still in the balance.
The second half has barely begun but Arsenal has already scored.
Declan Rice floats in a teasing freekick and Mikel Merino glances in a header.
Hang on though, VAR are looking at it…
Score: Arsenal 0-1 PSG
Arsenal kicks off the second half and will be hoping for a better performance.
The referee isn’t a popular man inside the stadium but the host needs to ignore what’s happened before and focus on finding a goal.
Score: Arsenal 0-1 PSG
Neither team has had time to take a breath but it’s somehow already halftime.
The break comes at an awful time for Arsenal because it was starting to look threatening.
PSG hold on to its lead, thanks to a strike from Ousmane Dembélé within four minutes of the match.
The players will need this rest, and so will I…
Score: Arsenal 0-1 PSG
What a chance that was for Arsenal.
Gabriel Martinelli gets in behind the PSG defence and sprints clear through on goal. The Brazilian opens up his body and tries to bend his shot into the far post but it’s brilliantly saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Score: Arsenal 0-1 PSG
While Arsenal fans have been put through the wringer in these opening 40 minutes, PSG fans have been loving life over in their corner of the Emirates stadium.
There has been near constant noise and scarf twirling since long before the kickoff, and so far their team has produced a performance worth singing about.
There was a brief, nervous pause in the noise as Ødegaard lined up a free kick, but the drums and chanting started up again even louder once PSG had cleared the danger.
Arsenal fans thought they might have had a penalty but no such luck.
Mikel Merino goes down as he sets himself to take a shot, but it was a brilliant tackle from PSG’s João Neves.
The referee, Slavko Vinčić, seemingly pointed to the penalty spot but he was in fact awarding PSG a free kick after Merino caught Neves.
Arsenal is looking far stronger now and is creating some small half chances for itself.
Score: Arsenal 0-1 PSG
It’s fair to say referee Slavko Vinčić isn’t endearing himself to this Arsenal crowd.
There have been a few questionable free kicks awarded to PSG all over the pitch for some bitty fouls that have broken the game up, and this crowd is growing more and more frustrated with each passing whistle blast.
A sarcastic cheer – likely loud enough to be heard across London – goes up when Arsenal is finally awarded a free kick.
Score: Arsenal 0-1 PSG
This game is still being played at a blistering speed but Arsenal is showing signs of being more relaxed.
Former Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger is watching on from the stands and he’ll know how careful his old team has to be against this PSG attack.
Wenger was seen talking to Britain’s prime minister Keir Starmer – a Gunners fan himself.
Every time Arsenal go forward, it leaves empty spaces behind its defense, which PSG looks very keen on exploiting.
Désiré Doué almost makes it 2-0 but David Raya gets down well to keep the shot out. Fabián Ruiz then hits the post with the rebound but he was offside anyway.
Score: Arsenal 0-1 PSG
I vividly recall the climax to the 2006 final in Paris.
Arsenal were so close.
The Gunners were just 14 minutes away from becoming champions of Europe for the first time, only to concede twice to Barcelona in four minutes.
A devastating defeat for the Londoners but one that must surely now inspire and motivate future generations of Arsenal players to finally get over the line.
The Gunners haven’t reached this stage of the Champions League since losing to Manchester United in 2009.
The second leg of that semifinal saw United triumph 3-1 on the night (4-1 on aggregate) and the start of tonight’s game seems eerily similar.
Back in 2009, United raced out to a 0-2 lead within 11 minutes, courtesy of Park Ji-Sung and Cristiano Ronaldo. The early signs, 16 years on, are that Arsenal need to get a grip on proceedings if this tie is not going to run away from the home side.
The Arsenal players need to settle quickly before this gets any worse.
Both sides are bidding to make history this season by winning their first Champions League trophy, but it’s PSG that looks more comfortable with the responsibility.
Defender Marquinhos just had a header easily saved by Arsenal’s David Raya but the visitors are enjoying the better of the play.
To add to Arsenal’s nerves, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is positive he deserves a penalty after going down in the box. The referee is not interested, though.
Score: Arsenal 0-1 PSG
Luis Enrique has done an amazing job at PSG, proving there IS life after superstars like Mbappé, Messi and Neymar.
Like Arsenal, PSG has never won this tournament. They look a far better team than the one that lost 2-0 to the Gunners late last year in the newly-launched league phase of this competition.
Keep in mind, the Parisians only made it through in 15th place.
According to our friends at Opta, Ousmane Dembélé had been involved in more attacking sequences of play than any other player in the UEFA Champions League this season, with 120.
Now make that 121.
That’s 25 goals for Ousmane Dembélé in all competitions since the start of 2025.
No player from the top five European leagues has managed more.
Incroyable.
Ousmane Dembélé’s brilliant early strike stunned the Emirates Stadium into silence – but only for a moment.
As the PSG fans in one corner celebrated, the home supporters lifted the noise inside the stadium once again to drown them out.
Every tackle or foray forward is being met with a huge roar of approval, but you can sense the nerves in the air every time PSG begins an attack.
Score: Arsenal 0-1 PSG
Wow, that didn’t take long.
Ousmane Dembélé has the visitors ahead with a brilliant finish.
While the forward will take the credit, winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia did brilliantly to take on his man and whip a dangerous cross into the box.
Dembélé still had a lot to do and he did it perfectly, sweeping his finish in off the post in the 4th minute.
Score: Arsenal 0-1 PSG
A rendition of ‘North London forever’ and ‘Allez allez allez’ really got the home fans going before kick off, and the atmosphere inside the Emirates is not letting up.
It’s fair to say this stadium doesn’t have the reputation as the world’s most intimidating arena but Arsenal fans are producing noise befitting of one of the biggest nights in the club’s history.
The fans are doing their part; now, over to the players.
Score: 0-0
The first chant of “Arsenal, Arsenal, Arsenal!” comes from the stands as the home fans begin to drown out the boisterous away PSG support.
There is an almost palpable electricity in the air as the crowd roars after each player in the starting XI is announced over the loudspeaker.
Under Luis Enrique, it’s been a case of out with the old and in with the new at Paris Saint-Germain – a transformation that’s brought about remarkable results.
The big names of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar have given way to young, vibrant talent from the domestic French league and beyond.
Attacking midfielder Désiré Doué has shone in both league and cup competitions, Portuguese João Neves has been a commanding presence in the heart of midfield, while the twinkle-toed winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has already made a big impact since his January arrival from Italy.
It’s a refreshing change in approach that has been welcomed by former Champions League winner and Brazil captain, Cafú.
“(Luis Enrique has created) a winning mentality. A mentality in which everybody plays for each other,” he told CNN at the recent Laureus World Sports Awards in Madrid.
“Everybody creates goals. Everybody plays. Everybody has fun. Everybody plays for one objective: to win the Champions League.”
As for head coach Luis Enrique, Cafú is in no doubt that the Spaniard is the right man in charge to end the Parisian club’s long wait for European football’s most prized trophy.
“Luis Enrique is a fantastic person. He has his ideas, his tactics which he implements on the pitch and makes his players understand,” he says.
“(Paris Saint-Germain) have what it take to reach the Champions League final.”
