Luis Enrique dismisses Mikel Arteta’s claim that Arsenal were ‘much better’ than Paris Saint-Germain

Paris Saint-Germain boss Luis Enrique dismissed Mikel Arteta’s claim that Arsenal were “100 per cent” the best team across the two legs of their Champions League semi-final.

The Gunners played well at the Parc des Princes last night but were beaten 2-1 by PSG, who advanced to a final clash with Inter Milan 3-1 on aggregate.

PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma made several important saves in the tie but the Ligue 1 side’s greater attacking threat carried them through.

Bold claim from Arteta

Afterwards, Arteta claimed on TNT Sports: “First of all, [I want to] congratulate PSG for reaching the final. The assessment I will make when I’m a little bit cooler, but the feedback I got straight away from their bench was we were much better than them.

“When you look at the two games who has been their best player on the pitch? It has been their goalkeeper.

“He’s made a difference for them in the tie. And I think we were close. Much closer than the result shows. But unfortunately we are out.

“I am very proud of the players. What we did today, the way we started, how we handled the pressure. After 20 minutes it should be 3-0. But there is something needed in the competition to go your way and it didn’t [for us].”

“I don’t agree at all.”

Mikel Arteta and Luis Enrique had differing opinions on who was the better team over the tie… pic.twitter.com/8pNVLUXKS9

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) May 8, 2025

I don’t agree – Luis Enrique

Luis Enrique has built a hugely entertaining side, shorn of the superstars of previous years but possessing guile in midfield and blistering pace in attack.

And while the former Barcelona boss was respectful of Arsenal, he didn’t not agree with Arteta’s assessment.

He said: “Mikel Arteta is a great friend, but I don’t agree at all.

“They played in a clever way and they got the match to the right moment for them because they played in the way they wanted, and the way they love. But in the two legs we scored more than them and that is the most important thing in football.

“Arsenal played a great match, and we suffered, but we deserved to get to the final. They are a great team, but I repeat, we scored more goals, we played in a great way in the first leg, and the second half of the second leg was a different match, and we could have scored even more goals.”

Rice wants trophies

Arsenal have finished as runners-up in the last two Premier League seasons and currently sit second again.

And midfielder Declan Rice, the hero of the quarter-final win over Real Madrid, says sometimes disappointment comes before jubilation.

He said: “We’re all desperate for it [a trophy]. That’s why we play football, we want to win trophies, we want to be at the pinnacle, winning stuff. For whatever reason it hasn’t been meant to be.

“We’ve been really close and it’s not good enough. Arsenal deserve to be pushing for trophies and winning things but there’s not a lot more we can be doing. A lot of superstars have suffered defeats to come out on top.

“It hurts, you see the boys, the manager. We wanted to be in Munich but this doesn’t define us and we’ll be back.”