Big Match Feature: PSG v Arsenal

PSG’s 1-0 win the first leg was their first ever victory in six attempts against Arsenal (D3 L2). Both of their home games against the Gunners have finished 1-1 (March 1994, September 2016).

Having been unbeaten in their first 13 away games against French sides in all competitions (W8 D5), 
Arsenal have now lost their last two visits against Rennes in 2019 and Lens in 2023.

Only two teams have ever reached the Uefa Champions League final having lost the first leg of their semifinal tie at home, with Ajax overcoming Panathinaikos in 1995-96, and Tottenham doing the same against Ajax in 2018-19.

Both PSG and Arsenal are bidding to reach their second European Cup/Uefa Champions League final, with the French side doing so in 2019-20, and the Gunners in 2005-06. When winning the first leg of a European tie away from home, PSG have only been eliminated once (vs Man Utd in 2018-19), while the Gunners have never progressed when losing the first leg at home.

PSG have won three of their last four Uefa Champions League home games, netting 14 goals across those three victories. However, they’ve lost twice at Parc des Princes this season (vs Liverpool and Atlético de Madrid), only losing three at home in the same campaign in 2020-21.

Arsenal have won each of their last four away games in the Uefa Champions League – the Gunners have never won five in a row on the road across all European competition before.

DAZZLING DECLAN THE KEY

Paris Saint-Germain have made 150 line-breaking passes that have broken the defensive line in the Uefa Champions League this season, second only to Bayern Munich (156). 25 have been by Ousmane Dembélé, the joint most of any player this campaign.

Ousmane Dembélé’s winner in the first leg was his eighth goal in the Uefa Champions League this season – only Zlatan Ibrahimovic has netted more in a single campaign for PSG (10 in 2013-14).

As well as completing the joint most passes on either team in the first leg (50), Arsenal’s Declan Rice made the most line-breaking passes in the final third (6). He leads all Gunners players in the Uefa Champions League this season for line-breaking passes leading to both shots (7) and goals (3).

Paris SG’s João Neves has made 51 tackles in this season’s Uefa Champions League, the most by a 
midfielder in a season since Arturo Vidal in 2014-15 (52). He’s applied 756 high pressures to opponents in 2024-25, over 100 more than any other player.

Neves is the pressing machine in the Paris team