Joe Cole reveals the ‘huge advantage’ PSG have over Arsenal for Champions League semi-final

Joe Cole believes Paris Saint-Germain have a ‘huge advantage’ over Arsenal for their Champions League semi-final tie.

The Premier League and Ligue 1 giants go head-to-head for a place in the Champions League final.

Arsenal produced two stunning performances to cruise past Champions League holders Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.

Mikel Arteta’s side won 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium and 2-1 at the Bernabeu as they humbled the European champions over two legs.

PSG, meanwhile, booked their place in the semi-finals after surviving a huge scare against Aston Villa.

The French champions sealed a 3-1 win in the home leg and held on to 5-4 aggregate victory after losing at Villa Park.

Arsenal welcome PSG to the Emirates on April 29 before travelling to Paris for the second leg on May 6.

Cole was hugely impressed by Arsenal’s victory over Real Madrid but immediately warned the Gunners that PSG have a ‘huge advantage’ given the second semi-final leg is on home turf.

‘It’s an absolutely brilliant night for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta,’ he told TNT Sports. ‘The club is in a fantastic place.

‘The league has gone but their full focus is on this competition. They played PSG before [in the Champions League group phase] so there’s no uncertainty there.

‘A sticking point for Arsenal is the second leg is in Paris, I think that’s massive, especially now the away goal rule has bene taken away. I think that’s a huge advantage for the team that have that.

‘But you can’t take anything away from Arsenal tonight, it’s such a fantastic night. They were absolutely brilliant, to go to Madrid and do that at the Bernabeu.’

While Cole believes PSG have a major advantage over Arsenal, he insists the Gunners ‘have a chance’ of winning the Champions League, especially as they can focus entirely on their European commitments.

Arteta had aspirations of guiding Arsenal to their first domestic league title since 2004 earlier in the season but Liverpool have all but wrapped up the title race.

‘If Arsenal were in the [Premier League] title race I would give them no chance,’ ex-England midfielder Cole added.

‘But the fact they’ve got all their energy and focus on the Champions League, they do have a chance.’

Arteta revels in ‘one of best nights of his career’

Arteta was understandably delighted with his Arsenal team after their impressive victory over the Champions League holders.

Speaking to TNT Sports after the game, he said ‘It’s one of the best nights in my football career.

‘We played against a team with the biggest history. It has been an inspiration for all of us on this competition.

‘To be able to win the tie in the manner we have done – I think we have to be very proud of ourselves.

‘After two-to-three minutes you realise anything can happen in this stadium. Fortunately, a lot of things went for us. Overall, we did what we had to do to win the game.

‘The history we have in this competition is so short. The third time in our history of what we have just done and we have to build on that.

‘This experience is going to help us, for sure. We had full belief that we could beat this team and the players did it.’

Inter Milan will face Barcelona in the other semi-final after the Italians saw off Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich and the Spaniards eased past Borussia Dortmund.

Speaking after Inter reached the semi-finals, Hakan Calhanoglu said: ‘It was a beautiful evening, certainly with a lot of suffering, especially in the final minutes.

‘We were already prepared to suffer, we knew that Bayern would put us in difficulty. After their first goal, we reacted well. After going 2-1 up, we were forced to defend but we kept believing in ourselves.’

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