PSG are deserving Champions League finalists, says Luis Enrique

Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) coach Luis Enrique insisted his team deserved their place in the Champions League final and were determined to go on and lift the trophy after winning their last-four tie against Arsenal on Wednesday.

“Over the two legs we scored more goals than them and in football it’s the most important thing, but Arsenal played a great game and we suffered a lot,” the Spaniard said after PSG’s 2-1 win in the second leg in Paris secured a 3-1 aggregate triumph.

Goals either side of half-time by Fabian Ruiz and Achraf Hakimi put the French champions out of sight in the tie before Bukayo Saka pulled one back for Arsenal, while PSG’s Vitinha had a penalty saved.

However, the hosts needed goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to make several vital saves and Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta claimed his team had been better over the two legs.

“It is the match in which we suffered the most (in the Champions League) but we deserve to get to the final,” added Luis Enrique.

PSG will now face Inter Milan in the final in Munich on May 31 after an extraordinary run in the competition which has also seen them knock out two other Premier League sides in Liverpool and Aston Villa.

It comes after they had been in real danger of elimination due to a poor run of results in the league phase -- they lost three of their first five matches, including a 2-0 defeat against Arsenal.

That meant they came 15th out of 36 teams and finished eight points behind the best team, Liverpool.

“I think throughout the competition it is clear that the results are what counts, we know that, but in the league phase there is no doubt we deserved nine points more,” Luis Enrique claimed.

“The fact we had such a difficult set of fixtures in the league phase helped the team improve and grow.

“The statistics showed we were one of the best teams in Europe, and when we started to be more clinical, in a short competition, I think we have showed that we deserve to be in the final.”

It will be PSG’s second Champions League final, five years after they lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich in Lisbon.

Last year, in Luis Enrique’s first season with the club, they were beaten in the semi-finals by Borussia Dortmund.

“There is no logic in football, but the first day I was here I said the objective was to work towards being able to make history, and that is our objective, to be the first to win this so-desired trophy,” for PSG, added the former Barcelona coach, who turns 55 on Thursday.

Arsenal players in tears, says Arteta: Arsenal players were left in tears after semi-final loss, manager Mikel Arteta said in a post-match press conference.

The North London side, who lost 1-0 at home in the first leg of the tie last week, are set to finish the season without a trophy, having lost the Premier League title race to Liverpool last month after exits from the FA Cup and the League Cup earlier this year.

Arsenal, who have won one FA Cup title and two Community Shields since Arteta took over in December 2019, are in a race to finish second in the English top-flight league for the third season in a row.

“Today I see how much they want it because they were in tears,” Arteta said.

“This squad, two years ago, nobody believed that we could even probably qualify for the Champions League, not even think that we could finish second and compete in the league.

“Perhaps the amount of points that we had in any other year, you are champions. But the reality at the end is you need something to lose and that trophy with all the work that we do and the disappointment is we don’t have them.”

Arteta’s men, who sit three points above third-placed Manchester City, visit Liverpool on Sunday.

Arteta defiantly insisted Arsenal were the best team in the competition this season despite their exit.

Arteta responded to the loss in combative fashion, claiming Arsenal were as good as PSG and were unlucky not to have beaten the French champions.

Agencies