Former Tottenham midfielder Rafael van der Vaart has made a scathing Arsenal claim amid their loss to PSG in the Champions League on Tuesday night, a result which gives Mikel Arteta an uphill battle to fight going into a crucial second leg.
Arsenal suffer 1-0 defeat to PSG in Champions League semi-final first leg
Ousmane Dembélé’s brilliant early finish beyond David Raya was eventually enough to seal an all-important victory for Luis Enrique’s side on enemy turf, despite Arsenal’s best efforts to level the score.
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Gianluigi Donnarumma made impressive saves from Gabriel Martinelli, who found himself in on goal but couldn’t bury a finish past Italy number one, with Leandro Trossard also failing to beat the PSG star at a similar angle later in the game.
Mikel Merino briefly found an equaliser, heading in a free-kick from Declan Rice, but it was ruled out by VAR for a marginal offside.
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PSG did threaten to double their lead – hitting the post, crossbar and glancing a narrow effort past David Raya’s far post – but both sides are now set for another tough battle at the Parc des Princes with the Ligue 1 champions holding a one-goal advantage.
Captain Martin Odegaard failed to make an Arsenal impact against PSG as well, so Arteta will be hoping the Norway star can put in his best efforts in the return leg.
“We’re at half-time,” said Arteta on Arsenal’s loss to PSG. “Half-time and my message is exactly the same following us beating Real Madrid at home 3-0 – that we have to go to Paris and win the game.
“We are more than capable of doing it because I saw two very good teams with margins that are so small. They had efficiency in front of the goal and their keeper as well made a difference to see the result that we’ve seen tonight.
“When you score a goal and concede one, you have to. But we did a lot of things very well as well. We had a spell in the first half and the game had phases. The first 15-20 minutes, especially them scoring so early in a great combination, playing when the margins as so small, the finishing is unbelievable.
“And then we had especially one issue that we corrected after 15-20 minutes and we sustained that for the rest of the game, which I think turned the game around.”
Rafael van der Vaart compares Arsenal to a youth team
Speaking on Rondo Sport, as relayed by FC Update and Sports Witness, ex-Spurs midfielder made a pretty unfair claim about Arsenal when discussing Arteta’s side facing off against PSG.
Van der Vaart compared Arsenal to a youth side, and called them the AZ Alkmaar of England, going on to claim that they won’t be competing for the Premier League title next season.
“I don’t believe that Arsenal will compete for the championship,” he said. “A nice team, but I think it’s a bit like the AZ of England. A bit like a youth team.”
This is a pretty big reach at best, considering the Gunners just battered Real Madrid 5-1 on aggregate in the Champions League quarter-finals, and they managed 89 points in the Premier League last season – which would have been enough to win it in a lot of previous campaigns.
They also have every chance of overcoming PSG in France with the advantage being a very slender one.