PSG are deserving Champions League finalists, says Luis Enrique

PARIS – Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique insisted his team deserved their place in the Champions League final and were determined to go on and lift the trophy after winning their last-four tie against Arsenal on May 7.

“Over the two legs, we scored more goals than them and in football it’s the most important thing, but Arsenal played a great game and we suffered a lot,” the Spaniard said after PSG’s 2-1 win in the second leg in Paris secured a 3-1 aggregate triumph.

Goals either side of half-time by Fabian Ruiz and Achraf Hakimi put the French champions ahead at the Parc des Princes before Bukayo Saka pulled one back for Arsenal, while PSG’s Vitinha had a penalty saved.

However, the hosts needed goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to make several vital saves, with Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta claiming his team had been better over the two legs. “It is the match in which we suffered the most (in the Champions League), but we deserve to get to the final,” said Enrique.

Taking a cue from Yann Sommer’s brilliant goalkeeping display a day before when the Switzerland shot-stopper helped Inter Milan reach the Champions League final, Donnarumma threw himself into the limelight, keeping Arsenal at bay almost single-handedly in the opening stages as the visitors sought to cancel out the 1-0 deficit from the first leg.

His instinctive save from Gabriel Martinelli’s close-range effort was superb, but minutes later he topped it by stretching to somehow get a hand to Martin Odegaard’s fierce low shot through a crowd of players.

“It was a beautiful match. My save today on Odegaard? It was very nice, the ball went between the legs of one of my teammates. I work a lot on low balls, but Mother Nature also had her say,” the 1.96m Donnarumma said.

He was also an immovable barrier in the first leg in north London when he made stunning saves to protect PSG’s lead.

“When you look at the two games, who has been their best player on the pitch has been the goalkeeper. He’s made a difference for them in the tie,” Spaniard Arteta said.

“He showed why he’s an elite goalkeeper; he made some incredible saves and kept them in the game,” Arsenal forward Mikel Merino said of the Italian’s heroics.

Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice was equally impressed. He said: “Over the two legs, we could have scored three or four goals, but Donnarumma’s been unbelievable.”

The 26-year-old made five saves in total on May 7, but it was also his command of his penalty area that allowed PSG to stay secure as Arsenal went back to basics and resorted to long throw-ins and hoofing the ball into a crowded area.

Asked afterwards about his performance, a modest Donnarumma preferred to pay respect to another member of the goalkeeper’s union. “Yesterday (Sommer) was very good, he made more saves than me. He played a fantastic match, it was a great game,” the Italian said.

PSG will now face Inter in the final in Munich on May 31 after an extraordinary run in the competition which has also seen them knock out two other English Premier League sides in Liverpool and Aston Villa.

It comes after they had been in real danger of elimination due to a poor run of results in the league phase – they lost three of their first five matches, including a 2-0 defeat by Arsenal. That meant they came 15th out of 36 teams and finished eight points behind leaders Liverpool.

“I think throughout the competition it is clear that the results are what counts, we know that, but in the league phase there is no doubt we deserved nine points more,” Enrique claimed.

“The fact we had such a difficult set of fixtures in the league phase helped the team improve and grow. The statistics showed we were one of the best teams in Europe and, when we started to be more clinical in a short competition, I think we have showed that we deserve to be in the final.”

It will be PSG’s second Champions League final, five years after they lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich in Lisbon.

Last year, in Luis Enrique’s first season with the club, they were beaten in the semi-finals by Borussia Dortmund.

“There is no logic in football, but the first day I was here I said the objective was to work towards being able to make history, and that is our objective, to be the first to win this so-desired trophy,” for PSG, added the former Barcelona coach, who turned 55 on May 8. AFP, REUTERS