Ray Parlour makes Arsenal claim after PSG and Bayern Munich nine-goal thriller

Ray Parlour says Arsenal may have to produce a near-perfect performance if they reach the Champions League final and face one of the ‘two best sides’ in Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich.

PSG and Bayern put on a show in an all-time classic European tie on Tuesday evening, with a rapturous Parc des Princes crowd treated to nine goals across an unforgettable contest.

The hosts had appeared to have put one foot in this year’s final as Ousmane Dembele scored his second to make it 5-2 with half-an-hour remaining of the semi-final first leg.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia had completed a double of his own just moments earlier after a thrilling first half in the French capital, in which Joao Neves, Harry Kane and Michael Olise had also netted.

But Bayern dug deep and were rewarded for their efforts as Dayot Upamecano and Luis Diaz both scored in the space of three frantic second-half minutes to ensure Vincent Kompany’s men trail by just one goal ahead of the sides’ meeting in Munich.

Facing the media shortly after the final whistle, Luis Enrique said the match was ‘without doubt’ the best game he had ever been involved in as a manager.

‘I have never seen a match with this kind of intensity,’ the PSG head coach told reporters at his post-match press conference.

‘This is not the time to point out flaws. We just need to congratulate everyone.

‘We deserved to win, we deserved to draw and we deserved to lose today.

‘It was a fantastic match. It has been, without a doubt, the best match I have ever been involved in as a coach.’

Kompany, meanwhile, admitted he found the experience a little less enjoyable after a one-match touchline suspension forced the Belgian to watch on from the stands.

‘It’s no fun,’ the Bayern manager explained.

‘If it never happens again, I’ll be satisfied.’

For the neutral, though, it was a breathtaking spectacle, with both sets of attackers given license to roam and create at will across a rollercoaster 90 minutes.

Reflecting on the drama on talkSPORT this morning, former Arsenal and England midfielder Parlour picked out the performances of Olise and Luis Diaz for special praise.

‘Olise was different class. Do you know another player who probably Liverpool fans will be looking at and saying, “Why didn’t we keep him?”… Luis Diaz, he was superb on that left-hand side for Bayern going forward,’ Parlour said.

‘You look at it now and I’m sure Atletico Madrid and Arsenal will be looking at that and thinking, “Wait a minute, if we get them in the final then one of us is going to have to be at our best if we’re going to beat Bayern Munich or PSG“.’

According to Parlour, PSG’s squad will be ‘kicking themselves’ for failing to put the tie to bed when they held an imperious three-goal lead in the second half.

He added: ‘PSG will be kicking themselves a little bit. To get 5-2 up, you’d be thinking, “Come on, let’s just try and slow it down a little bit, keep possession”, but credit to Bayern because they just kept going.

‘Bayern had a couple of chances at the end to get the equaliser as well, but the game itself, the quality of the game, was magnificent, it really was.’

On the basis of Tuesday’s thriller in Paris, there is little doubt in Parlour’s mind when it comes to the two standout attacking teams in this year’s competition.

‘As I’ve said before, we have go the best league, there’s no doubt about the Premier League,’ he continued.

‘But the two best sides, if you look at those two going forward, it’s very hard to deal with the forward, attacking ability that they’ve both got.

‘It’ll be interesting to see how tonight’s game goes. It’ll be 0-0 tonight! It will be a little bit tighter!

‘It was a tight game last night in quality of goals, but I can’t see it being nine goals tonight if I’m being honest with you.’

Given the importance of the occasion, Parlour was delighted to see two all-star trading blows and slugging it out with little fear of potential consequences at the other end of the pitch.

‘You always look at the importance of the game because you can get a really top-class game with loads of goals, end-to-end stuff, when you’re not playing for anything,’ the three-time Premier League winner went on.

‘But these two teams last night were playing for the final of the Champions League and to put on a show like that… it would have been an amazing game to be in.

‘If I was in that stadium, the atmosphere sounded like it was unbelievable so that’s one thing you get from Paris.

‘When you go to Bayern Munich it will be exactly the same so it should be a cracking second leg.’

On Bayern and England sensation Kane, Parlour added: ‘He was absolutely brilliant.

‘He’s that sort of player now, he drops into that No.10 role if he needs to. He has passing ability, he’ll always score you a goal.

‘The goals between all three of them at the front has been unbelievable, it really has this year for Bayern Munich.’

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