Arteta says Arsenal can do ‘something special’ in second leg against PSG after first leg of ‘small margins’ | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta says the gap between Arsenal and PSG in his side’s Champions League semi-final first-leg defeat was “so small”.

Ousmane Dembele scored the only goal of the game meaning PSG will take a one-goal lead back to Paris for the second leg with a place in the final at stake.

But despite the defeat, Gunners boss Arteta believes that there was not a big difference between the two sides.

“We are at half-time and my message is exactly the same after beating Real Madrid 3-0 at home,” he said.

“We have to go to Paris and win and we are more than capable of doing it.

“I saw two very good teams where the margins are so small.

“They had efficiency in front of the goal. Their keeper as well made a difference in the result we’ve seen tonight.”

Arteta also highlighted one particular issue which he said needed to be fixed early on, but would not go into full details about what that problem was.

“It was an issue we had with the ball in a very specific moment, and we didn’t have the chance to press them.

“This is one of the best teams. They have beaten all the English teams, the best teams in this country.

“You cannot dominate this team for 95 minutes.”

And the Spaniard urged his team to do “something special” in the second leg and reiterated his confidence that they can pull off a comeback.

“We have a lot of chance to be in the final,” he said. “You have to do something special if you want to be in the final and Paris is the time to do it.

On whether his side need a big improvement in the second leg, he said: “I think the margins were so small so I don’t think so but if it’s significantly better (the second leg performance), hopefully the result is significantly different as well.”