Paris Saint-Germain drew with Arsenal in the Champions League on Tuesday.
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PSG’s lead was cancelled out with 12 minutes to go when Chilean forward Alexis Sanchez rifled a low drive into the corner, helping the Gunners salvage a point and a much valued away goal.
Ospina’s selection ahead of Petr Cech for this match seemed an odd move by Arsene Wenger before kick-off.
Wenger is understood to have promised Ospina that, outside of Premier League action, he would remain the first choice goalkeeper, i.e. for Champions League, League Cup and FA Cup action.
The balance of the team was wrong, not to play Cech (despite Ospina’s fantastic performance) and to leave multimillion pound big money buys of Xhaka and Perez on the bench was a big call for Arsene Wenger to make.
Outplayed in midfield for the first half, Arsenal were left clinging on yet somehow Cavani, PSG’s goalscorer, conspired to miss an extraordinary number of chances with Ospina the man who simply would not give in.
Both Wenger and Emery seemed satisfied with their respective performances after the final whistle, but there was very little in Paris to suggest either team are serious contenders for the top prize.
“On what he delivered, he has the right to stay in the team for the next Champions League game”. They know what the rules are.
Walcott endured a hard campaign a year ago as he completely lost his form during the run in but he’s started this season positively and has a goal and an assist to his name from his four Premier League starts so far.
“We can always change our minds”.
“We knew this would be a tough match with so many great players on the pitch”, the keeper said.
Both players had already been booked previously, and referee Viktor Kassai sent both players off after they clashed off the ball. But we did not panic, we showed resilience, and it’s linked to experience.
“We had more freedom in the second half, we controlled the ball better”.
From a PSG perspective, their inability to see out the victory was less to do with Ospina than with Cavani’s inability to convert several chances.
Spanish manager Unai Emery replaced Laurent Blanc as Paris St-Germain boss this summer after winning a third straight Europa League title with Sevilla.
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“There are many positive things [to take from the game]”.
