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Arteta Eyes Historic Turnaround: Arsenal Target PSG Upset to Reach Munich Finale

On the eve of a Champions League semi-final that could redefine Arsenal’s modern identity, Mikel Arteta stood in Paris and insisted that “to win this tournament you must do something exceptional.” The mission is clear: cancel out Ousmane Dembélé’s early strike at the Emirates and start writing a fresh chapter in North-London folklore.

The confidence inside the camp is rooted in numbers as much as rhetoric. Arsenal have strung together four straight European away wins—over PSV, Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund—and one more in the Parc des Princes would mark the first five-game continental streak in club history.

Paris Saint-Germain’s record, though, makes formidable reading: the French champions have advanced in all five ties where they carried a 1-0 away-leg lead and in 18 of the 19 occasions they have travelled home ahead on aggregate. Arsenal, by contrast, have never overturned a first-leg defeat on their own ground in Europe.

Stopping Dembélé will be paramount. His goal in London lifted him to eight in this season’s competition—only Zlatan Ibrahimović’s ten-goal burst in 2013-14 betters that in PSG colours. Yet Gunners fans find hope in precedent: every Champions League final staged in Munich has crowned a first-time winner, a quirk tailor-made for a club still chasing its maiden crown after heartbreak in 2006.

History, then, cuts both ways. “Show our best version and win,” Arteta urged. Should Arsenal do so, they will exchange statistical baggage for a ticket to Bavaria—and to destiny.

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