PSG 2-1 Arsenal - 3 takeaways as Gunners' Champions League dream ends

Arsenal saw their Champions League dream end with a 2-1 defeat to PSG in the second leg of the semi-finals.

It was always going to be tough for Arsenal to overturn the 1-0 first leg defeat to PSG in the Champions League semi-finals, and thus it was a bridge too far.

Coming into the contest, we highlighted the need to start fast for the Gunners and had they had their shooting boots on, this tie would have looked vastly different in Paris.

Declan Rice's header from point-blank range after only a couple of minutes went wide. Then a few minutes later, Martin Odegaard's thunderous shot was well saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Had one of those two shots gone in, who knows how the tie would have gone? But PSG, as they have been, were clinical when Arsenal wasn't, with goals from Fabian Ruiz ('27) and Achraf Hakimi ('72) putting the home side 3-0 up on aggregate.

Bukayo Saka gave the Gunners life in the 76th minute with his close-range goal, and just minutes later had a point-blank shot go over the bar to all but end the Gunners' Champions League dream.

3 takeaways from Arsenal's 2-1 loss to PSG

1. What if?

What if Rice's header goes in after a couple of minutes? What if Odegaard's shot finds its way in or if Saka doesn't sky his shot late in the second half?

All of these chances saw the Gunners get so close yet so far, and, as they have been all season, when Arsenal needed to be clinical, they weren't.

What the loss does ram home is the need for a genuine striker this summer because, as we have said all too often this season, on another day, the Gunners score three or four goals here.

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