Macdara Ferris
Wed, May 07 2025
Paris Saint Germain 2 ( Fabian Ruiz 27’, Hakimi 72’)
Arsenal 1 (Saka 76’)
PSG win 3-1 on aggregate
Paris Saint Germain will take on Inter in the UEFA Champions Final in Munich at the end of May.
This semi-final second leg lacked the high-octane drama of Tuesday’s night’s win for Inter over Barcelona but it was an intriguing contest all the same in Paris.
Two Gianluigi Donnarumma saves from Martin Ødegaard and Gabriel Martinelli proved crucial in the game keeping Arsenal at bay when the English side were on top and after weathering that early storm in the Parc des Princes, PSG took the lead from a screamer in the 27th minute.
The goal came from a free kick that Declan Rice had given away. Vitinha whipped it into the box and while Partey headed it clear, he didn’t clear it enough with the ball falling to Fabian Ruiz. His clever touch off his chest took it away from Martinelli with the ball bouncing up for him to leather his left foot effort into the goal by David Raya.
The home side got a VAR spot kick in the 68th minute when the ball deflected off the fingertips of Myles Lewis-Skelly. Vitinha’s stupid slow run up for the penalty was punished when Raya got down to his left to turn the spot kick around the post.
However Achraf Hakimi scored in the 72nd minute to effectively end the tie and book PSG’s place in the final. He punished a Partey error allowing sub Ousmane Dembele to set him up to sweep their second home.
Bukayo Saka struck in the 76th minute as he scrambled the ball around Donnarumma to half the deficit on the night.
Saka should have scored his second moments later when he blazed the ball over with the Italian goalkeeper already beaten.
Arsenal’s dream of becoming European champions for the first time ends in the city of dreams but for PSG they will have the opportunity to claim their first European crown at the end of May.
Paris Saint Germain: Gianluigi Donnarumma; Achraf Hakimi, Marquinhos, Willian Pacho Tenorio, Nuno Mendes (Goncalo Ramos 88); João Neves, Vitinha, Fabian Ruiz; Bradley Barcola (Ousmane Dembele 72), Désiré Doué (Lucas Hernandez 74), Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
Subs not used: Matvei Safonov, Kang-in Lee, Warren Zaïre-Emery, Arnau Tenas Ureña, Senny Mayulu, Axel Tape-Kobrissa, Lucas Lopes Beraldo, Ibrahim Mbaye.
Booked: Nuno Mendes (18), Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (86)
Arsenal: David Raya; Jurriën Timber (Ben White 830, William Saliba, Jakub Kiwior, Myles Lewis-Skelly (Riccardo Calafiori 68); Martin Ødegaard, Thomas Teye Partey, Declan Rice; Bukayo Saka, Mikel Merino, Gabriel Martinelli (Leandro Trossard 69).
Subs not used: Norberto Murara Neto, Kieran Tierney, Ethan Nwaneri, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jorginho, Raheem Sterling, Tommy Hogan Setford, Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, Jack Henry-Francis.
Booked: Declan Rice (26), Myles Lewis-Skelly (56), Riccardo Calafiori (86)
Referee: Felix Zwayer (Germany)
[image or embed]
— extratime.com (@extratime.com) 6 May 2025 at 11:03