Arsenal star claims Gunners mostly 'dominated' PSG despite semi-final result

Evening Standard

·29 April 2025

Arsenal star claims Gunners mostly 'dominated' PSG despite semi-final result

Gunners need Paris comeback next week to reach first Champions League final since 2006

Frustration: David Raya was unable to keep out Ousmane Dembele’s early effort as Arsenal lost at home to PSG

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David Raya believes Arsenal largely dominated Paris Saint-Germain in their Champions League semi-final first-leg tie.

The Gunners head to the Parc des Princes for next week’s decider with it all to do to reach a first final since 2006 in Munich in May after falling to a frustrating 1-0 loss at home to Luis Enrique’s impressive side at a subdued Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night.

Ousmane Dembele struck the only goal of the game in north London after only four minutes, making a surging run through the middle and then dispatching Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s low pass in off the post first time to stun the ground into silence.

Arsenal were well below the levels shown in their statement 5-1 aggregate victory over holders Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, though saw a second-half header from Mikel Merino ruled out for offside and were also denied by two strong saves from goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Raya also made some crucial stops to prevent PSG from building their lead, with substitute Goncalo Ramos striking the crossbar in the latter stages.

And while the Arsenal ‘keeper acknowledges that the French giants made the far quicker start, he believes Arsenal recovered to control the rest of the match - albeit without reward.

“They started very quick with a goal and I thought they dominated the first 15, 20 minutes. But after that I thought we dominated most of the game,” Raya told Amazon Prime Video.

“We created the chances, Donnarumma made some brilliant saves and it’s only half-time. We take a lot of positives from this. We know they are a top, top, top team, but credit to the players for the effort that we put on the pitch. We could have won the game as well.

“We know they keep the possession a lot and they are really, really good at that. They had that chance and they put it in the back of the net. That went for them, this is football. We had the chances to score but we couldn’t manage the goal.

“I’ve not seen the disallowed goal back from Mikel but I think we needed that lift. We showed from the 20th, 25th minute from the first half that we can win against any team. We have showed this season that we can win away as well. We are going to go to Paris next week to win the game.”

Raya does not belief that no Thomas Partey was a major factor in Arsenal’s defeat as he praised the performance of Declan Rice, who played in a deeper midfield role against PSG to cover the Ghanaian’s absence through suspension.

“We know how important Thomas is for us, but luckily enough we have people in midfield and in the team, everybody can step in.” he said. “Obviously it was Declan who played as a six and I thought he showed a great game as well, he was really, really good on the ball. Everyone was really good today.”

Asked how Arsenal can turn the tie around in Paris next week, Raya said: “Just try to approach the game the same way. I thought we played really, really well. We put them on the back foot and hurt them a lot.

“I know they created their chances as well, but that’s part of football. We created a lot of chances. Just approach the game the same way and we know we can win against any team.”