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Arsenal will reportedly not sack Mikel Arteta despite the side's Champions League semifinal elimination by Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). The Gunners lost the second leg 2-1 at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday (May 7), culminating in a 3-1 aggregate loss.
The north London outfit hoped to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg, but failed to stage a comeback, with PSG having the upper hand in the return fixture as well. Goals from Fabian Ruiz (27') and Achraf Hakimi (72') put the Parisians in a comfortable position before Bukayo Saka salvaged a goal for his side late on in the game (76').
The outcome of the fixture means the Gunners would end the season without a trophy. Arteta's men have already lost the Premier League title to Liverpool. Manchester United eliminated them in the FA Cup third round, and they were also defeated by Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup semifinal.
Arteta has failed to lead Arsenal to a major silverware since the 2019-20 season when they defeated Chelsea 2-1 to lift the FA Cup. The Gunners have since then won two Community Shields, but have fallen short of landing the big laurels.
According to a report by the Daily Mail (via SPORTbible), the club board have no plans to part ways with Arteta anytime soon. However, the Spanish manager is under immense pressure after another disappointing campaign. He has been heavily backed in the transfer window the past couple of seasons, spending over £600 million, including the reported £105 million signing of Declan Rice.
Under his tutelage, the Gunners have notably become a force to reckon with domestically and on the continent. However, winning a trophy is paramount at this stage.
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger disagrees with Mikel Arteta's claim after Champions League loss to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG)
Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has disagreed with Mikel Arteta's claim that his side were the best team in the Champions League this season. Following their 2-1 loss to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on Tuesday, Arteta told the BBC:
"We were very close, much closer than the result showed, but unfortunately we are out. I am very proud of the players, 100% I don't think there's been a better team [than Arsenal] in the competition from what I have seen, but we are out."
"This competition is about the boxes and in both boxes are the strikers and the goalkeepers and theirs was the best in both games," he added.
However, Wenger believes PSG were better than his former side over the two semifinal legs, and tipped them to win the trophy. He said on beIN Sports (via Metro):
"I would say tonight we have seen another PSG. They were not guided by possession or brilliant football but guided by a refusal to concede goals and taking advantages on the counter-attacks."
Wenger continued:
"I would say mentally they were strong as well. They hung in there when they missed the penalty. With Arsenal we have seen a reoccurrence of being unable to score goals. ‘Overall in the two games I would say they were better than Arsenal, they had more chances and were never really in danger."
"So congratulations to Paris Saint-Germain. I said a long time ago sitting here that PSG would not be far from winning the Champions League," he added.
Arsenal's first and only Champions League final appearance came in 2006 under Arsene Wenger, though they lost 2-1 to Barcelona.
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Okenna Okere
Okenna is an football journalist at Sportskeeda. He has previously worked as a radio presenter at Green FM Umuahia for 4 years, and as a writer at Opera News Hub Nigeria for around 2 years. As a successful modus operandi, he strictly sticks to publishing guidelines, double checks facts while writing, pays very close attention to details and prides himself on picking complex topics to write on.
A Chelsea fan, Okenna had his first tryst with Blues in 2006, after fellow countryman John Mikel Obi joined the west London club. He was immediately drawn to the brilliance of players like Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, John Terry and Didier Drogba.
Okenna is a huge fan of Lionel Messi for his exceptional talent. He also admires Jose Mourinho for his achievements with various clubs which proves he's a tactical and disciplined manger as well as a serial winner.
Some of Okenna’s prospective career landmarks include working as an international journalist and covering a FIFA World Cup game live from the stadium. When not writing, he loves watching, movies and reading books.
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Edited by Parag Jain