Arsenal 0-1 Paris Saint-Germain: Dembele pushes visitors towards Champions League final

Ousmane Dembele’s early goal propelled Paris Saint-Germain to a 1-0 win in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final tie against Arsenal on Tuesday.

Dembele capped a 26-pass move to stun the Emirates Stadium into silence in the fourth minute and, though Arsenal improved, they found Gianluigi Donnarumma in good form after the break and must now overturn a deficit in France.

PSG wasted no time in going ahead, playing through the Arsenal press to free up Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. The Georgian found Dembele on the edge of the area, and he sent a venomous left-footed strike off the far post and in.

With Arsenal well off the pace in the opening stages, PSG almost went 2-0 up, but Desire Doue’s reverse shot was superbly clawed away by David Raya.

What a start in North London #UCL pic.twitter.com/FLEW2kWdRO

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Arsenal grew into the contest in the final 15 minutes of the first half, though Gabriel Martinelli was unable to curl his finish around Donnarumma after being played in behind the visiting defence.

The Gunners thought they had an equaliser two minutes into the second half as Mikel Merino nodded Declan Rice’s deep free-kick home, but after a three-minute VAR check, the semi-automated offside technology confirmed the Spaniard had failed to get back onside.

Leandro Trossard was then denied by another full-stretch Donnarumma save after darting into the left channel, while Bradley Barcola stroked wide of the left post after some clever link-up play from Kvaratskhelia and Goncalo Ramos.

Ramos also rattled the crossbar amid a suspicion of offside in the 85th minute, as PSG settled for a one-goal lead ahead of next week’s second leg at the Parc des Princes.

Data debrief: Dembele the difference

Luis Enrique’s Ligue 1 champions are not shy about their commitment to a possession-based style of play, and they came to the Emirates with a plan to control the game.

Dembele’s goal came after a sequence of 26 successful passes from PSG, their longest for a goal in a Champions League match since Opta records began in 2003-04.

It was Dembele’s 33rd goal in all competitions this season. Among all players from Europe’s top five leagues, only Robert Lewandowski (40), Harry Kane (36) and Kylian Mbappe (34) have scored more.

That was the earliest Champions League goal Arsenal had conceded since another meeting with PSG in September 2016 (to Edinson Cavani in the first minute), and though they improved after the half-hour mark, five saves from Donnarumma – his joint-most in a Champions League game this season – kept them out.