In fact, 45 minutes from kickoff it looked like we might, because we were totally ineffective for the first half.
Advertisement
The Gunners found their equaliser in the 77 minute when Alexis Sanchez rifled home the rebound from inside the box after Alphonse Areola had parried away Alex Iwobi’s shot.
Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud has expressed his frustration after he was sent off alongside PSG’s Marco Verratti.
The decisions to leave Olivier Giroud and Petr Cech out of the starting line-up were criticised at the time, although David Ospina went on to more than justify his inclusion at the latter’s expense. We played better than in the previous game in the league [a 1-1 draw against Saint-Etienne].
“It’s not the best result but I’m happy with the game my team played”.
It is not the first occasion that the Arsenal manager has dropped Cech from the UEFA Champions League competition, with David Ospina preferred in the group stages throughout last season.
“When you play your first game [of the season] it’s hard, but it is his [Ospina’s] job”.
“When you start so badly against a team of that quality, if you have no experience, if you are too young, you can be caught”.
Just 44 seconds into the match at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday, the Uruguayan striker scored the very first goal of this season’s Champions League, heading in a cross from Serge Aurier who was picked out by Angel Di Maria’s long pass, reports Xinhua. PSG coach Unai Emery, who replaced Laurent Blanc during the summer, was disappointed by the result but said he was pleased by his players’ spirited display. The Arsenal stopper was on hand again moments later to keep out Cavani after a couple of fortunate deflections put the striker through on goal.
In the first half, PSG were all over Arsenal, pressing high, looking solid and creating chances, unlike in their first league outings.
“It’s a good point, we came here with ambition to get three points but when you start like this it’s hard to do that”, Koscielny said. Past year he made a mistake when I started him in the Champions League.
Advertisement
“He had three good chances, three very good chances. Once you have optimism, that’s when you start to score goals”.
