Mikel Arteta insisted Arsenal are capable of producing a special moment to overturn their first-leg defeat against Paris St Germain and reach the Champions League final.
Arsenal will head to the French capital next week trailing by a single goal in the last-four fixture after Ousmane Dembele stunned the Emirates when he struck inside four minutes.
Although Mikel Merino had a second-half goal ruled out for offside, PSG substitute Goncalo Ramos struck David Raya’s crossbar in the closing minutes and Arteta’s men might count themselves fortunate to still be in the tie.
But Arteta said: “We are at half-time, and my message is exactly the same as it was after we beat Real Madrid 3-0 in the first leg of the quarter-final. We have to go to Paris and win the game, and we are more than capable of doing it.
“If you want to win the Champions League final, you have to do something special, and we are going to have to do something special in Paris to be there. We still have a lot of chances to be in that final.”
Arsenal secured a comfortable 2-0 win against PSG back in October, but Luis Enrique’s reformed side raced out of the blocks on Tuesday night and totally dominated the majority of the opening period.
Arteta said he was forced into a tactical switch, which he would not disclose, midway through the first half, and Arsenal improved with Gabriel Martinelli forcing a fine save from Gianluigi Donnarumma before Merino’s header just 90 seconds after the interval was chalked off by VAR.
Leandro Trossard tested Donnarumma again, but Bradley Barcola almost added a second for the visitors with 10 minutes to go when his shot fell narrowly wide and Ramos then struck Raya’s woodwork.
“We had two one-on-ones with Donnarumma and if they go in, it is a different story,” added Arteta. “But he made the saves, and that’s the difference in the Champions League. The margins are so small, and it didn’t go our way.”
PSG saw off Manchester City in the group stages before beating Liverpool on penalties in the last 16 and then knocking out Aston Villa in the quarter-finals.
And following their win against Arsenal – which puts them in pole position to face either Barcelona or Inter Milan in next month’s showpiece – PSG boss Luis Enrique said: “There was an incredible atmosphere inside the stadium, it was deafening, but we got off to a wonderful start and the early goal gave us a boost of confidence.
“It is mission accomplished for this evening. But our objective is to win the second leg at home. With Arsenal we cannot let our guard down or be complacent because they can score quickly and we are back to square one.
“Nothing is in the bag. We need to win when we are at home because Arsenal now have nothing to lose.”
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