Paris are heading to Munich!
In a thrilling contest at the Parc des Princes, Paris Saint-Germain qualified for the second UEFA Champions League final in their history with a 2-1 home win over Arsenal courtesy of goals to Fabian Ruiz and Achraf Hakimi either side of half-time. Despite Bukayo Saka’s late strike, Paris prevailed 3-1 on aggregate and will now meet Inter Milan in the final in Munich on Saturday 31 May.
A week after winning the first leg across the Channel by a goal to nil, Paris Saint-Germain faced Arsenal in the Champions League semi-final second leg. In a red-hot Parc des Princes, Luis Enrique fielded a central defensive pairing of captain Marquinhos and Willian Pacho in front of goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes started in the full-back roles, while Vitinha occupied the holding midfield role, flanked by João Neves and Fabian Ruiz. In attack, Bradley Barcola started in a central position, supported by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Désiré Doué on the wings.
But the Gunners, frustrated by last week's defeat in London, burst out of the blocks and Declan Rice saw his header fly just wide of the post (3‘). Gabriel Martinelli then forced Gigio Donnarumma into action for the first time in the match (4’) from a long Thomas Partey throw-in. It set the tone for a breathless first quarter of an hour for Les Rouge et Bleu, who were put under intense pressure by a courageous Arsenal side. The Londoners laid siege to the Parisian goal, and Gigio was called into action again, this time to deny Martin Ødegaard's crisp strike (8’)!
Saved by their last line of defence, Paris gradually grew into the game and Kvaratskhelia came closest to opening the scoring with a curling right-foot shot that came back off the post with David Raya beaten (17’). As the visitors pressed high up the pitch, Paris looked to hit in transition and set pieces. And it was from a partly-cleared Vitinha free-kick that saw Fabian Ruiz beat Martinelli on the edge of the box before unleashing a volley that gave the Arsenal goalkeeper no chance (1-0, 27').
The first goal could have been quickly followed by a second on the counterattack, but Bradley Barcola was denied by Raya after rounding Myles Lewis-Skelly (30'). After a crazy first half hour, the two sides continued to trade blows but there was no change to the score at the break. After the restart, both teams trying to gain the upper hand in the midfield battle without taking too many risks. As the hour mark approached, Bukayo Saka tried his luck with a curling left-foot effort; denied once again by Gigio Donnarumma (64').
Moments later, Les Rouge et Bleu were back on the attack. When Achraf Hakimi's shot was deflected by Jurriën Timber's hand, the referee pointed to the spot but Vitinha was unlucky to see Raya dive to his left and save the penalty (69’). But the capital club didn’t have to wait long to double their lead through Achraf Hakimi three minutes later. The Moroccan full-back dispatching a clinical right-foot shot into the bottom corner from an Ousmane Dembélé assist (2-0, 72'). The Parc des Princes erupted once more, only to be tempered moments later when Bukayo Saka reduced the deficit after a series of ricochets saw the ball fall to his feet in front of an empty net (2-1, 76').
It was too little too late for the English side and after an intense battle over two legs, Paris Saint-Germain defeated Arsenal home and away to secure their place in the UEFA Champions League final for the second time in the club's history. They will face Inter Milan in Munich on 31 May. Tonight, once again, Paris est magique!