At A Glance:
- Arsenal are yet to win the Champions League title in their storied history.
- They came close last term, crashing out at the semi-final stage to PSG.
- Mikel Arteta has singled out the one reason they lost to Luis Enrique’s side.
Under the guidance of Mikel Arteta, Arsenal have turned into a team that is capable of fighting on all fronts – but they are still yet to win the Champions League in their history. The Spanish boss has singled out the one reason they failed to reach the final last season.
This season, the Gunners have the chance to go all the way and face one of Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the final.
Currently 1-0 up against Sporting CP in the quarter-finals after a first-leg victory, it’ll take some doing to be crowned the champions of Europe – and Arsenal know that.
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They were unable to reach such levels last term and crashed out at the semi-finals by the eventual winners PSG. And recently, Arteta was asked about their defeat and singled out Gianluigi Donnarumma as the deciding factor.
Arteta claims Donnarumma is the reason Arsenal lost to PSG last season
Arsenal’s and Arteta’s focus is, of course, winning the rest of their matches this season – but in the lead-up to facing Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth this weekend, he was asked about their inability to beat PSG over two legs last season.
Ousmane Dembele scored the only goal in their 1-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium in late April 2025 before Luis Enrique’s impressive side won 2-1 in the return leg thanks to goals from Fabian Ruiz and Achraf Hakimi. Bukayo Saka scored for the Gunners.
That said, the Arsenal boss believed things would have been different if Donnarumma, who moved to Manchester City in the summer, had not put in two brilliant performances between the sticks.
“Maintaining clean sheets and not allowing goals to go in, that wins you championships and big trophies,” he said.
“You have the best example last year with PSG. If Donnarumma is not there, we are probably in the final of the Champions League. That’s clear!”
Incredibly, the Gunners had already beaten the Ligue 1 behemoths earlier in 2024/25 – 2-0 in the group stage… and with relative ease – but things didn’t go to plan when it mattered the most.
Backing up Arteta’s admission, the statistics show that Donnarumma made five saves in PSG’s 1-0 win over Arsenal. His Gunners counterpart David Raya made three.
In the second leg, the imposing Italian was less busy: he conceded the one goal, of course, but made another three saves to prevent Arsenal from scoring. Raya, again, put in a terrific shot-stopping display by making four saves.
Could Arsenal finally end their Champions League voodoo this season?
Many of the Emirates Stadium faithful will be hoping that this season can be different – and beating Sporting 1-0 in the first leg of their two-legged quarter-final tie means they are now one step closer to making history under the stewardship of Arteta.
On their side, Atletico Madrid beat Barcelona 2-0 in their first leg – but anything can happen as the two Spanish sides meet again next week.
For now, the Gunners – who are, no doubt, on the easier side of the draw – will need to focus on themselves and how far they can go in the competition.
PSG will be keen to retain their status as the champions of Europe and Bayern, spearheaded by Harry Kane Michael Olise, will put a tough fight.
Elsewhere, Real Madrid – the record-winners of Europe’s most prestigious competition – will also pose a threat to Arsenal’s dreams of winning the Champions League final, which is set to be played in Budapest, Hungary at the fabled Puskas Arena.
