14 hours ago
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Mikel Arteta boldly announced Arsenal were in Paris to make history – but it was a recent history of falling short that haunted them as their Champions League campaign ended in failure.
Arsenal delivered a fine performance, but were ultimately unable to overcome Paris St-Germain, who have taken a wrecking ball to the Premier League's elite in this tournament and now face Inter Milan in Munich in the final.
Arteta and his players were devastated as Parc des Princes exploded in pyrotechnics and deafening celebrations at the conclusion of PSG's 2-1 win in this semi-final second leg.
Arsenal had gone the same way as Manchester City, Arsenal and Aston Villa when they faced Luis Enrique's exciting, emerging PSG side earlier in the tournament.
And, beneath the surface, lies a very uncomfortable truth for Arteta and Arsenal.
Arsenal are now five years without a trophy, when Arteta led them to the FA Cup in 2020. For all the talk of process and progress, this is the only currency that matters for elite clubs, so time is ticking on Arteta to make his team winners again.
He is, for now, in charge of a nearly team. For all Arsenal's excellence in the City Of Light, this darkness was the brutal reality.
No-one would seriously suggest for one moment Arteta's job is under threat, but he is definitely under pressure to produce tangible success, which will ratchet up next season. Eventually there can be no excuses, or messages about moving forward. Arsenal need to win.
There is the basis for a top-class side with outstanding players such as Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard, along with the youthful brilliance of Myles Lewis-Skelly – but top-class sides win trophies and, in that context, Arsenal have fallen short for five years.
Arsenal and Arteta's hopes of history are now reduced to making sure they finish in the Premier League's top five to ensure they are back in the Champions League next season.
It was a night of missed opportunities in a two-legged tie shaped by the first 20 minutes both at Emirates Stadium and here in Paris.
PSG went for Arsenal away from home and scored a decisive goal from Ousmane Dembele. The Gunners gave Luis Enrique's side a taste of their own medicine in Paris but could not score.
The giant figure of PSG's Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was Arsenal's nemesis again, just as he was at Emirates Stadium, producing two outstanding saves early on, first from Gabriel Martinelli's close-range shot, then a world-class stop low to his left from Odegaard.
PSG were chasing history of their own, as indicated by the giant tifo unfurled during the spectacular light and sound show before kick-off along the Virage Auteuil, where their Ultras gather,. It read: "55 years of memory behind you to write history."
Goals from Fabian Ruiz and Achraf Hakimi either side of half-time set the platform for victory, punishing Arsenal for the blunt instrument that is their attack. Saka eventually beat Donnarumma but it was all very little very late.
PSG can now chase that history in the shape of their first Champions League triumph, while Arsenal are left to ponder a fourth successive failure in a semi-final and a season that will be looked back on as an anti-climax.
For Arsenal, it is a case of what might have been and another season when Arteta's team have been unable to bridge the elusive gap between also-rans and winners.
This was their 201st match in the Champions League, the most of any side who have failed to lift the trophy. And it was another semi-final defeat to set alongside those in the 2020-21 Europa League, 2021-22 EFL Cup, 2024-25 EFL Cup, and this exit here. It is their longest-ever run of exits at this stage.
Close but not close enough. Again.
Arsenal and England midfield man Declan Rice said: "We're all desperate for it. That's why we play football. We want to win trophies. We want to be at the pinnacle, winning stuff.
"For whatever reason, it hasn't been meant to be. We've been really close and it's not good enough.
"Arsenal deserve to be pushing for trophies and winning things but there's not a lot more we can be doing. A lot of superstars have suffered defeats to come out on top. It hurts, you see the boys, the manager. We wanted to be in Munich but this doesn't define us and we'll be back."
The task for Arteta now is to also prove he is a winner after a Premier League title pursuit that never got off the ground and the promise of the Champions League, including a superb win over holder Real Madrid in the quarter-final, coming to nothing.
In his pre-match news conference, Arteta bizarrely said: "Winning trophies is about being in the right moment in the right place. Liverpool have won the title with less points than we have in the last two seasons. With the points of the past two seasons, we have two Premier Leagues."
It was a flawed argument that conveniently ignored the fact Arsenal have been in the same place at the same time as Arne Slot's newly crowned champions this season and did not deliver.
Arteta's maths also failed to take into account Liverpool could yet surpass the 89 points Arsenal achieved last season, and tally of 84 in 2022-23.
This may seem a harsh assessment given the quality of Arsenal's performance in Paris, but no amount of "what ifs" can disguise the fact that they are once again empty-handed.
Arteta talked of "fine margins" and will curse Donnarumma's brilliance over two legs, but this is what matters at this rarified level.
Arsenal were also architects of their own downfall, with Thomas Partey's poor headed clearance only finding an unmarked Ruiz for PSG's first, then the same player losing possession for Hakimi's second, which effectively finished them off.
Arsenal's serious strategic failure in not signing a striker last summer was also a factor in their elimination. And this is not post-event wisdom – it was a thorny subject then.
Mikel Merino, pressed into service away from his usual midfield role, was tireless. But he only offered a focal point, not a serious threat.
How Arsenal cried out for a reliable marksman who might have made more capital of their early domination, when they gave Luis Enrique's side a taste of their own medicine by pinning them back with fierce salvo of attacks.
As former Arsenal and England defender Matthew Upson put it on BBC Radio 5 Live: "When PSG break away, you always feel they are going to put the ball in the back of the net. Arsenal don't have that level."
Arteta and Arsenal must find that striker after the negligence of last summer otherwise they will wait longer for the history they crave to make.
