UNBEATEN ARSENAL WELCOME DRIBBLING POWERHOUSE PSG IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMI-FINAL

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April 29, 2025

Arsenal - Paris SG

Arsenal are preparing for their sixth meeting with Paris Saint-Germain, with the Gunners remaining unbeaten against the French giants (2 wins, 3 draws). PSG is the opponent that Arsenal have faced the most times in European competitions without ever losing (5 matches).

Arsenal have already faced PSG in this season's Champions League, winning 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium in the league phase last October. Only one English team has managed to defeat PSG twice in a single edition of this competition: Manchester City in the 2020-21 semi-finals (2-1 away, 2-0 at home).

The Parisian club also has an uncomfortable record on English soil - they have lost five of their last six away matches against English teams in the Champions League (1 win), falling to four different opponents in this run (Manchester City twice, Arsenal, Newcastle, and Aston Villa).

This semi-final will be just the third in Champions League history where two Spanish managers face off against each other (Mikel Arteta with Arsenal and Luis Enrique with PSG). The previous instances were Carles Rexach (Barcelona) vs. Vicente del Bosque (Real Madrid) in the 2001-02 season and Pep Guardiola (Bayern Munich) vs. Luis Enrique (Barcelona) in the 2014-15 season.

Arsenal are currently in excellent form, remaining unbeaten in their last eight Champions League matches (7 wins, 1 draw). This is their second-longest unbeaten run within a single edition, following a 12-game streak in the 2005-06 season (8 wins, 4 draws), when they reached their only final in this competition (finishing as runners-up).

The Gunners have been ahead on the scoreboard for 53% of their total match time in this season's Champions League, the highest percentage of any team. Moreover, only Internazionale (1%) have been behind for a lower percentage of their game time than Arsenal (6%), who haven't trailed at any point in the knockout stages this term (against PSV and Real Madrid).

On the other side, 87% of PSG's pressures in the Champions League this season have been applied with high-intensity, again the highest percentage of any team. Midfielder João Neves (715) is the player with the most high-intensity pressures applied in the tournament this season.

In individual statistics, Bukayo Saka stands out with nine goals and six assists in 16 Champions League appearances for Arsenal. This is already the most goal involvements for an English player in their first two seasons in the competition, and the most by a winger in their first two seasons since Sadio Mané (16 across the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons).

Ousmane Dembélé has been directly involved in 10 goals in this season's Champions League (seven goals, three assists) and could equal the record for most goal involvements by a PSG player in a single edition, currently held by Kylian Mbappé (11 in the 2020-21 season – eight goals, three assists).

PSG have four different players averaging 2+ completed dribbles per 90 minutes in this season's Champions League (Doué 3.1, Kvaratskhelia 2.7, Barcola 2.6, and Dembélé 2.2), the most on a single team (min. 300 minutes played). Indeed, PSG's total of 190 completed dribbles is the highest in a single edition since Barcelona in the 2014-15 season (238), who were also managed by Luis Enrique.

Photo: source XYZ

We thank OPTA for providing the statistical data.


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