Dembélé's sharp finish and Donnarumma's saves put PSG in driving seat

The optimistic reading for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal is that it is not over.

- David Hytner

And yet if they are to keep alive their shot at history, the pursuit of a first Champions League triumph, they are going to need something extraordinary in the second leg of this semi-final next Wednesday.

The atmosphere at the Parc des Princes will be red-hot and Paris Saint-Germain will not easily be shifted from the advantage that Ousmane Dembélé's fourth-minute goal has given them. The French champions showed why they have won so many admirers across the continent this season, calling the tune for the opening 35 minutes or so. That was when their movement was irresistibly sharp.

Arsenal chased shadows but they resisted and they had their own moments. Gianluigi Donnarumma was forced to make crucial saves from Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard. Mikel Merino had a goal disallowed. But this was not the barn-storming night that Arteta had wanted, one to rival that here in the first-leg of the quarter-final against Real Madrid, when Arsenal won 3-0.

PSG were back in charge during the closing stages and the truth was they could have scored again. After João Neves had lifted a shot high, one PSG substitute, Bradley Barcola, dragged wastefully wide of the far post when clean through before another, Gonçalo Ramos, hit the crossbar when one-on-one with David Raya. Ramos had been all alone against the goalkeeper.