Mikel Arteta Delivers Cryptic Post-Match Message After Arsenal Conceded Early Goal to PSG

Paris Saint-Germain will return to the French capital with a one-goal lead after edging Arsenal 1–0 on Tuesday night at Emirates Stadium in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semifinal.

The Ligue 1 side got off to a flying start thanks to Ousmane Dembélé, who capped off a move he began himself just four minutes in. He sprayed the ball wide to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who drove into the box and cut it back with the outside of his foot. Dembélé met it with a low shot that kissed the post on its way in.

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Arsenal thought they had equalized later in the match, but VAR ruled it out—leaving the French side in control heading into the return leg in Paris.

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Before the Gunners could settle into the contest, they were already trailing and couldn’t find the equalizer in the first 90 minutes. After the match, Mikel Arteta spoke to the media and he was asked what happened to his team that led to the PSG goal less than five minutes into the game.

“Not a lot,” Arteta said (h/t Arsenal). “I’m telling you it’s just something that is very specific but very important, especially the way we played. We corrected it and it’s not easy to correct it constantly but we did it and we did it much better. And in the end, we have two of our front players one v one with Donnarumma, if they scored the goal, it’s different.

“He made the saves like he did against Liverpool and Villa and that’s the difference in the Champions League, the margins are so small. We had a disallowed goal as well and another two big situations that happened in the game that didn’t go unfortunately our way.”