Everything smiled at FC Arsenal. After Kai Havertz’s early opener, the Londoners focused on their strong point: defense. Paris Saint-Germain circulated the ball around the edge of the opponent’s area, in vain: the Gunners’ 4-4-2 block remained impervious. The Gunners immediately pushed all crosses, tackles and headers out of the penalty area. The rare long shots went over the goal.
For 62 minutes, the best defense in the Old Continent kept the best attack in check. The Gunners thus achieved the feat of neutralizing the three formidable Parisian outposts, Désiré Doué, Ousmane Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. In Munich, we inevitably asked ourselves: how is this possible? During the spectacular semi-final against Bayern, PSG scored six goals.
Finally, the London rampart gave way where one might expect: on its weak point, the right flank. The starting right side Jurrien Timber was not yet ready to return to the eleven after more than two months off, and his replacement Ben White being in the infirmary, coach Mikel Arteta had to field his third choice: central Cristhian Mosquera. At 21, the Spaniard had only played six official matches this season in this position.
It is precisely on this flank that Mosquera had to contain Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, PSG’s best player this season in the Champions League. In the first period, the Azerbaijani did not manage to gain the upper hand over the Spaniard. Shortly after half-time, Mosquera received a yellow card for wasting time, further complicating his task. In the 63rd minute, the coup de grace: Kvaratskhelia escapes him and is cut down from behind in the area. Ousmane Dembélé transforms the logical penalty to equalize (1-1).
Shortly after, Mosquera gave up his place and Timber made his return to the biggest stage. After the equalizer, PSG appeared a little more dangerous, but rarely really convincing. Kvaratskhelia missed the best opportunity to make the score 2-1 (77th), before also being replaced.
