Arsenal still a nearly team after PSG end Champions league dream

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.

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