A frustrated Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal have been the best team in the UEFA Champions League this season despite their exit to Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals.
Arsenal’s European dream was ended by goals from Fabian Ruiz and Achraf Hakimi, who earned Paris Saint-Germain a 2-1 win on Wednesday night and a Champions League final date with Inter Milan.
The French champions were under immediate pressure as Declan Rice got under a Jurrien Timber cross to head off target, kickstarting a frantic five-minute spell that required Gianluigi Donnarumma to pull off outstanding stops to keep out Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli.
The early goal did not come and Arsenal were always playing catch-up from that point.
Arteta believes his side deserved to make the final based on the two legs and pointed to the performances of Donnarumma as the key factor in their failure to do so.
“I don’t think there’s been a better team (than Arsenal) in the competition from what I’ve seen,” Arteta told TNT Sports.
“But we are out. We deserved much more but this competition is about the boxes, the strikers most of the time and the goalkeeper and theirs was the best player in both games.
“I’m so proud of the boys, they deserve lots of credit for what they’re doing and the amount of injuries. We arrived here in the worst state. You have to get here with everyone fit and available with lots of minutes. They had a week. We came here in a different context. That gives me a lot of positivity for the future.”
Donnarumma made eight saves and Arsenal created 4.77 worth of expected goals across the two legs but only found the net once as an inability to be clinical with their finishing cost them dear.
And later at his press conference when asked if he felt the best team had lost, he added: “Yes, and I am saying that because they (PSG) just told me that. Today, I see how much my players wanted it because they were in tears.
“We deserved much more. When you analyse both games, the MVP (Most Valuable Player), has been their goalkeeper.
“The Champions League is decided in the boxes, and it’s won them the game. The result should have been very different. It gives me so much pride, but at the same time I’m so upset and so annoyed that we didn’t manage to do it.”
Luis Enrique was asked to address Arteta’s claim that PSG had suggested the Gunners were the better team over two legs.
“The league of farmers, no? We are the league of farmers,” the PSG boss joked, referencing the French Ligue 1 when speaking to TNT Sports.
“But it’s nice. We are enjoying the result and the compliments of everybody speaking of our team — our mentality, how we play. It’s nice.
“I don’t agree at all. Mikel Arteta is a great friend, but I don’t agree at all.
“They played in a clever way, but in the two legs we scored more than them and that is the most important thing in football. Arsenal played a great match, and we suffered, but we deserved to get to the final.”
Arteta has revived Arsenal’s fortunes on both the domestic and European stage with this their first Champions League semi-final appearances in 16 years. But his five-and-a-half-year tenure has yielded just one trophy — their 2020 FA Cup triumph.
The Gunners have failed to progress from each of their last four major cup semi-finals: the 2020-2021 Europa League, 2021-2022 League Cup, 2024-2025 League Cup and 2024-2025 Champions League.
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger also disagreed with Arteta, saying: “Overall in two games, you would say they (PSG) were better than Arsenal, had more chances and were never really in danger.”
Sky Sports
