A night that could have been so much worse for Arsenal, but where they now know they need to be so much better. Paris Saint-Germain showcased why so many see them as European champions but not for the full 90 minutes of this occasionally strange 1-0 away win.
Arsenal showed there are weaknesses to be exploited there, but also so many strengths to try and stop. The tie may well end up being decided by two very different individual moments at either end of this first leg.
There was obviously Ousmane Dembele’s superb goal after just three minutes, that remains the sole difference. There was then PSG’s flurry of late chances, and particularly Goncalo Ramos’ strike off the bar. Bradley Barcola was offside for his late chance.
It maybe says much about the night that Arsenal anxiously watched some of those efforts go astray, in the hope that a 1-0 defeat still gives them a significant chance in Paris.
Within that was also the strangeness of the performances. PSG had significant periods when they looked like the best team in Europe, and a level above.
There were then long stretches where Arsenal rallied. The timing of Mikel Merino’s disallowed goal probably didn’t help. Just as Arsenal were building an emotional momentum after half-time, it was suppressed by the decision, but also the long wait. There was never the same heave. Perhaps this is where Mikel Arteta’s absences really had an effect in Europe. That’s where the margins start to matter.
Thomas Partey’s suspension, in particular, was to prove crucial in that one key moment. There was also just the thinness of Arsenal’s attack. They were no longer just missing their main forward in Kai Havertz but also had such a shallow and young bench.
It was maybe no coincidence that Luis Enrique’s side had the better of the late chances, after a game that became curiously tactical and cautious.
This might not be about how it finishes, though. It might be about how it started, which is evidently such a lesson with PSG.
You can prepare and think you have covered every angle, only for Enrique or one of those attackers to come up with a move you hadn’t imagined.
In this case, it was the manner in which Dembele took up space in the false nine. Arsenal initially didn’t know how to deal with it, and it definitely didn’t help that was specifically where they were missing Partey’s energy. It was all the direct source of that fourth-minute goal.
Rice felt he had to help double up on the electric Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who of course created space and rolled the ball across for Dembele. The forward obliged and sent the ball into David Raya’s far corner.
It was the worst possible start, at the beginning of a 20-minute spell. This is what people are talking about when they enthuse about PSG as the best team in Europe. It is these sensational spells, when they combine an astonishing intensity with electric attack. That approach currently feels unique, and why an Enrique team is so different to Pep Guardiola’s.
There’s the speed of the transition, and then there’s the speed of the feet. Kvaratskhelia and Dembele can just bring teams to areas they don’t want to go. It’s even more dispiriting for opposition because, if they don’t get you by swarming your own box, they can just as easily get you when you’re trying to swarm theirs. As Arsenal repeatedly had to be on guard, you can be patiently building an attack only to find yourself relying on a desperate challenge near your own goal just seconds later.
There is another side to that, too, though. It is impossible to indefinitely sustain. PSG inevitably ebb and flow in such games, and there is a residual vulnerability when you go at them.
That is especially the case on their right. Achraf Hakimi leaves such space behind, and Marquinhos can struggle to cover it.
Most of Arsenal’s best moments – and certainly their best chances – came from there. Arteta might well insist they could have had three, even if that would have been a charitable scoreline given the general pattern of play.
Joao Neves had to intercept superbly when the area just seemed to open up for Merino, before Gianluigi Donnarumma then stopped superbly from similar breaks. In the first half, he turned Gabriel Martinelli’s effort away. In the second, it was Leandro Trossard’s. The latter was especially impressive given the power of the effort.
But that was kind of it. Unable to really bring much more quality in attack on, other than the teenager Ethan Nwaneri, the game kind of flattened out into this strangely tense occasion.
Even PSG didn’t get forward in the same way until they made subs.
There was a general sense of playing it out for the second leg.
Arsenal know they need to do so much more, though.
This wasn’t the epic night that Arteta demanded. It was something altogether odder.
At the least, they know everything comes down to Wednesday in Paris. It’s going to be about how they finish, having seen how PSG started.
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