Resiliency is vital in many situations in this game. In Champions League competition, resiliency has played a role in numerous triumphs by clubs that either go on to have a deep run or win it all to be crowned champions of Europe. Arsenal is looking to triumph in the tournament for the first time, and while it's still way too early, they proved a point against Paris Saint-Germain.
Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain clashed at Emirates Stadium in London earlier this week. It's clear that going into the match, Arsenal was the favorite, but PSG was expected to give the Gunners a run for their money. For most of the first half, Arsenal overwhelmed PSG on both attack and defense, scoring twice courtesy of Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz. Arsenal's two goals caused PSG so much frustration that it was clear that PSG's mindset and focus were negatively affected.
The Gunners were so well established on defense that Les Parisiens could not properly set up any scoring threats, and if they did, the Gunners' defense would prevail due to their strong resiliency. In the second half, PSG improved by thwarting Arsenal's attack threats. To PSG's credit, they held Arsenal to four shots-on-target, and goalie Gianluigi Donnarumma made two saves. Arsenal's attack could have inflicted more damage, but PSG's defense showed some resiliency of its own. But their inability to score is frustrating for Les Parisiens as they only had two shots-on-target, failing to capitalize on both.
PSG were without winger Ousmane Dembélé for this match. It was reported that Dembélé did not travel with the team due to a quarrel with PSG manager Luis Enrique after PSG's 3-1 win over Rennes in Ligue 1 play last weekend. Dembélé's absence may have been significant in why PSG's attack had struggles, but with plenty of attacking talent available, Dembélé's absence shouldn't have been much of a problem. PSG's attack was no match for Arsenal's defense.
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