Arsenal coach Arteta says best team in Champions League ‘are out’

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta reckons the best team in the UEFA Champions League is out. The Gunners were knocked out after they suffered a 2-1 loss in the second leg semifinal (3-1 aggregate ) against Paris Saint-Germain in Paris on Wednesday.

Fabian Ruiz scored in the 27th minute for the home team, whereas Achraf Hakimi doubled Parisians’ lead in the 72nd minute. Bukayo Saka pulled one back for the visitors after four minutes but there was no late drama.

Vitinha missed a 69th-minute penalty for a handball by Myles Lewis-Skelly awarded on VAR review.

After the match, Arteta said: “100 percent, I don’t think there’s been a better team [than Arsenal] in the competition so from what I have seen, but we are out. We deserved much more, I think in both games. But this competition is about the boxes, and in both boxes, there are normally the strikers most of the time and the goalkeepers and he was the best player in both games.”

Asked whether that meant the best team lost the tie with PSG, Arteta replied: “I think so, yes. Especially across 160 minutes. I’m saying that and they are saying that because they just told me that.

“It gives me so much pride, but at the same time I’m so upset, so annoyed that we didn’t manage to do it. Today I see how much the players want it because they were in tears [at the end].”

Arteta’s counterpart and PSG head coach, Luis Enrique, respectfully disagreed with his compatriot.

“Mikel Arteta is a great friend, but I don’t agree at all [that Arsenal deserved to win],” Luis Enrique said. “They play the way they want and love to play, but in the two legs, we scored more goals than them and that is the most important thing.

“Arsenal played a great match and we suffered a lot, but we deserve to get to the final.”

PSG will take on Inter Milan in the UCL final on 31st May at the Allianz Arena.