{"id":424439,"date":"2024-10-01T21:35:22","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T21:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=424439"},"modified":"2024-10-01T23:10:33","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T23:10:33","slug":"phenomenal-arsenal-scorch-european-giants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=424439","title":{"rendered":"'Phenomenal' Arsenal scorch European giants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arsenal<\/a> posted their first win of the 2024-25 Champions League<\/a> group stage with a highly impressive 2-0 triumph over fellow European heavyweights Paris Saint-Germain in London.<\/p>\n

Kai Havertz and Bukhayo Saka scored first half goals<\/a> to ignite a packed Emirates Stadium on Wednesday (AEST) and make amends for a drab 0-0 stalemate with Atalanta in their opening game of the competition in September.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"They were absolutely phenomenal in that first half," Mark Bosnich said on Stan Sport.<\/p>\n

Watch every match of the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Conference League,<\/strong><\/em> streaming ad free, live and on demand on Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Thomas<\/p>\n

"They've been threatening this type of performance all season, a complete performance – and that's what you've seen in the first half.<\/p>\n

"Wonderful from an attacking perspective, also from a defending perspective as well."<\/p>\n

The Gunners did get a little help, however.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Dusty's two-word answer to Suns speculation<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> IPL crackdown confirmed as two-year bans loom<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Alleged leak' creates 'ill feeling' between rival clubs<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Kai<\/p>\n

PSG's star goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma – who earns a reported $19m\ufeff per year – should have done better with both goals.<\/p>\n

The Italy No.1 was indecisive for Leandro Trossard's testing cross \ufeffas Havertz was allowed to nod home a header in the 20th minute.<\/p>\n

And \ufeffDonnarumma then let Arsenal captain Saka's free kick from the touchline go by him in a packed penalty area in the 35th.<\/p>\n

\"Rusty<\/p>\n

The highly decorated 25-year-old was making his return from a muscular problem in his right thigh.<\/p>\n

"When you've been out for three games, whether a player or a goalkeeper, you're just not quite there," former keeper Bosnich said.<\/p>\n

"It takes a bit of time. You saw that with both goals.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportFC\/status\/1841220830203920612?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

"You should never have come to that first one and here (for Saka's goal) as well. He's actually anticipating that there is going to be a touch. You can't, as a goalkeeper in that situation, it's a very dangerous situation.<\/p>\n

"You can't anticipate, you've got to stay with the ball, you've got no other choice. You've got to stay with the ball.<\/p>\n

"If he's 100 per cent at it, he doesn't concede either of them goals. But that just takes away from what was a great performance by Arsenal in that first half."<\/p>\n

\"Haaland<\/p>\n

Fellow ex-Socceroos star Craig Foster was also wowed by the dominance of Mikel Arteta's men against one of Europe's glamour clubs.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"Trossard has been amazing, the way that he's played," Foster said.<\/p>\n

"A bit of a balanced approach (from manager Arteta). They'd go and press at set pieces, but aside from that, they were happy to sit in a medium block in the middle of the field. But what they did right from the word go was they counterattacked and played through the press of PSG – who wanted to press all the time.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportFC\/status\/1841199493787570640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

Luis Enrique's gamble by leaving Ousmane Dembele out of his PSG squad backfired badly.<\/p>\n

Dembele was fit and in form, but the PSG manager sanctioned the France forward because of a perceived lack of commitment and decided he could do without his services against one of the best sides on the continent.<\/p>\n

"If someone does not comply with the requirements from the team, it means that they are not ready," Luis Enrique said before the match.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportFC\/status\/1841224996162846958?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

To fill the big void left by the prolific forward – Dembele has already scored four goals and delivered three assists in the French league this season – Enrique fielded Desire Doue and Lee Kang-in up front alongside Bradley Barcola.<\/p>\n

Facing an Arsenal back four playing at its best, PSG's attacking players were largely non-existent.<\/p>\n

The highly rated Doue was preferred to the experienced Kolo Muani despite just returning from an injury.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportFC\/status\/1841215969965883799?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

He came under the spotlight at the Paris Olympics, scoring a goal and delivering an assist as France finished with a silver medal.<\/p>\n

But Doue did not seem ready while Lee was a marked man throughout and struggled to find space.<\/p>\n

Arsenal enjoyed possession, dictated the tempo and opened the scoring within 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportFC\/status\/1841205819909558325?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

Up front, the Arsenal pair of Trossard and Havertz were lethal as PSG's centre backs truggled to follow their fast moves and connections.<\/p>\n

A beautiful collective move of fast flowing football from Arsenal just after halftime saw Gabriel Martinelli test Donnarumma with a good effort, but this time the PSG goalie had the last word.<\/p>\n

PSG's Joao Neves had an effort parried away by Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya onto the woodwork.<\/p>\n

Arsenal are third in the Premier League behind Liverpool and Manchester City.<\/p>\n

Their next Champions League game is at home to Shakhtar Donetsk on October 23.\ufeff – with AP<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arsenal posted their first win of the 2024-25 Champions League group stage with a highly impressive 2-0 triumph over fellow European heavyweights Paris Saint-Germain in […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":424441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424439"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=424439"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":424444,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424439\/revisions\/424444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/424441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=424439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=424439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=424439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}