Mikel Arteta is backing Paris Saint-Germain to win the Champions League following Arsenal’s exit on Wednesday night.
Arsenal needed to overturn a 1-0 defeat from the first leg at the Emirates Stadium but after an impressive start at the Parc des Princes they went behind through Fabian Ruiz’s superb effort in the 27th minute.
PSG added to their lead in the second half with another brilliant finish from Achraf Hakimi before Bukayo Saka found the net for Arsenal to give the Gunners a glimmer of hope.
However, PSG held out for a 3-1 victory on aggregate to reach the Champions League final where they will play Inter, who beat Barcelona in another thrilling semi-final on Tuesday night.
Arteta, who claimed after the game that Arsenal have been the best side in the Champions League this season, is now backing PSG to beat Inter in the final on May 31.
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The Arsenal manager spent 18 months at PSG during his playing career and is hopeful the French club go on to win their first-ever Champions League trophy.
‘I hope so because of my past here,’ Arteta told Canal Plus.
‘I really hope they finally win it, I say that from the bottom of my heart. This isn’t the time to say, ‘Go Paris,’ but when they play in the final, I’ll push for them.’
Arteta also believes Gianluigi Donnarumma’s impressive performance across both semi-final ties played a key role in PSG’s ability to reach the final.
‘Well done to them, they qualified. We were much better than them,’ Arteta said.
‘The man of the match was the same both times, it was their goalkeeper. That’s the story.
‘I’m so proud of the team, we played with a lot of character, courage, intelligence. But the reality is the result. We can’t be happy. We fought so well, we were better than them, today we were unlucky.
‘We have to see what we can do better now, because we have the level. We had seven players on the sideline. We arrive here at the most difficult moment of the season for the team and we manage to play like this.’
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