Arsenal legend Arsene Wenger believes the Gunners have a "mental" advantage ahead of their crunch Champions League clash at Paris Saint-Germain.
Article continues below
Article continues below
Article continues below
Arsenal lose 1-0 at home to PSGOn brink of Champions League exitWenger says they have "mental" advantageFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
Arsenal fell to a 1-0 semi-final first-leg defeat to PSG at the Emirates last week but despite the French side having home advantage for the return fixture, former Gunners boss believes the fact that Mikel Arteta's side have to win keeps matters simple. Whereas with PSG, deciding how to approach the game is more of a "mental problem".
AdvertisementGetty/GOALWHAT WENGER SAID
He told beIN SPORTS: "What is interesting in the Champions League, when you go away and home, is every time before you start the game in the second leg, you have a mental problem to resolve. The advantage for Arsenal is the mental problem is easy. They have to go and play and win. The mental problem for PSG is: do we play to win this game or do we play to protect our advantage and get them playing on the counter-attack, knowing you have to be very clear in your message to the team? As well, knowing that not everybody in the team will be necessarily aligned with you because if they decide to protect their advantage, it’s a little bit against the DNA of the team. So Luis Enrique has already come out and said they have another game to win and I believe, with the final in mind and you playing at home, it will be very difficult to have a passive attitude.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Neither Arsenal nor PSG have ever won the Champions League so this semi-final has an awful lot riding on it. The Gunners won away at defending champions Real Madrid in the last round so they can rise to the big occasion but winning in Paris may be an even tougher challenge.
Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT?
Arteta's Arsenal, who lost 2-1 at home to Bournemouth on Saturday, will hope to overturn their first-leg deficit at PSG on Wednesday in the Champions League semi-finals.
