Arsenal need a second leg win over PSGArsenal need a second leg win over PSG
Arsenal need a second leg win over PSG | Getty Images
We now know the referee for Arsenal’s Champions League semi-final second leg with PSG.
Arsenal’s season rides on this fixture, given the Champions League is their only opportunity to win silverware this season. While the Gunners have had some bad luck with injuries, it would be a real disappointment for them to finish the campaign empty-handed given the money spent in recent years.
But as they found out in the first leg, PSG are a tough nut to crack, with the French side having been unbeaten in Ligue 1 until the game for the first leg when they lost their first league game of the campaign, although they have lost since them, too, perhaps guilty of putting all their remaining eggs in the Champions League basket with the Ligue 1 title having long been wrapped up.
Ahead of the mouth-watering second leg, UEFA have confirmed that German referee Felix Zwayer will be in charge of the fixture. That could be a good omen for Arsenal, who have never lost with Zwayer in charge.
Just one of the three games has been a Champions League fixture, and that came last season. The Gunners beat PSV 4-0 in the Champions League group stage last season with Zwayer in charge, and the other two wins came in the Europa League. In 2020, Arsenal beat Olympiacos 1-0 in the first leg of a knockout play-off, and in 2018, they drew 2-2 with Shakhtar Donetsk in the quarter-finals second leg.
Interestingly, though, PSG are also unbeaten with Zwayer in charge, and both of those fixtures came in the Champions League. That includes a 2022 Champions League group stage clash that saw the Parisiens thrash Maccabi Haifa 7-2. In 2018, PSG drew 2-2 with Napoli in the group stage with Zwayer in charge.
Speaking after the Bournemouth defeat over the weekend and looking ahead to this one, Arteta said: “Well, we certainly wanted to create a really good vibe, a positive result would really help us to build what we wanted towards Wednesday. So what we have created now is a lot of rage, anger, frustration and a bad feeling in the tummy. So make sure that we use that for Wednesday to have a massive performance in Paris, win the game and be in the final.”
PSG boss Luis Enrique said after his side lost to Strasbourg over the weekend: “I am very satisfied with the way my team played. We were facing an opponent who is aiming for the qualifying places for the Champions League, strong physically and technically. We played a very high-level match, with four young players in the training (at kick-off) . We finished with five players in the training, very young. I am satisfied with what I saw. Ligue 1 is a high-level championship. Now, we have to enter this immersion phase for the coming week.”
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