How Ousmane Dembele manipulated Arsenal to put PSG ahead in Champions League semi-finals
Paris Saint-Germain earned a huge win in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final against Arsenal thanks to an early goal from Ousmane Dembele.
Gianluigi Donnarumma might steal the headlines with his five decisive saves, but it was Dembele who won PSG the game.
The French winger has been playing as a false nine for quite some time now under Luis Enrique, but he performed ‘old’ movements in much higher frequency in the win over the Gunners.
Dropping deeper
Dembele usually leads PSG’s attacking line on paper, but operates deeper, not always between the opposition’s centre-backs. Still, he tends to combine these moves with his blistering pace to also attack the last line of defence and stretch the other team.
In order to try and gain the advantage over Arsenal, Enrique scratched the latter completely and went all in on the former. It won’t manifest necessarily in heatmaps and average position charts because they only take into consideration on-ball actions, but the 27-year-old was dropping even deeper than usual.
During the opening 25 minutes, Dembele would often join the midfield line and see either Joao Neves or Fabian Ruiz occupy the spaces he left between the Gunners’ defenders. As well as creating confusion in the English side, that allowed Dembele himself to have more room to carry the ball forward and see the game in front of him more clearly, rather than playing with his back to goal.
This is exactly how PSG’s goal started: Dembele received a brilliant pass from Nuno Mendes that got them out of Arsenal’s high pressure while he was in his own half and five teammates were ahead of him rushing forward – a rare sight for a ‘striker’. The Frenchman also deserves credit for recognizing the gap created by Declan Rice and Mikel Merino, who went to press high up the pitch at the same time.
With all kinds of different advantages, Dembele carried the ball goalwards, distributed to his left and stayed behind while all Arsenal players desperately stuck themselves inside the box, trailing the play and finding himself free to shoot as soon as he received the pass back from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. And that simple movement basically won the game.
Most goal involvements in a single Champions League campaign for PSG:
◎ 11 – Kylian Mbappé (2020/21)
◉ 11 – Ousmane Dembélé (2024/25)Dembouz equals the record. 🤝#UCL pic.twitter.com/GSFJ4fNjrf
— Squawka (@Squawka) April 29, 2025
Tactical versatility
PSG put on a very impressive, but most of all flexible display at the Emirates. Enrique-managed teams will always prioritise keeping possession and recycling passes – and they did that very well.
Particularly in the first half, the French side easily controlled the ball, managing to escape Arsenal’s pressure, establish themselves in the attacking half and then going back to their own. This tired the Gunners and forcing them to run up and down after the ball time and time again. Dembele’s movements were particularly helpful in this regard, creating passing lanes and giving everyone around him an extra option to pass the ball.
BetMGM sign-up offer: Get £40 in bonuses when you bet £10
Not signed up to BetMGM yet? Here's how eligible readers* can take advantage of their welcome offer:
- Open an account at BetMGM using this link.
- Select the Sports Welcome Offer.
- Get the offer from the ‘My Offers’ page.
- Deposit and place a £10 bet at odds of 1/1 (2.0) or greater.
- When it settles, unlock £40 in bonuses
New customers only. 7 days to place qualifying bet of £10+ at 1/1 (2.0) to receive 4 x £10 Free Bets: 1 x £10 Acca, 1 x £10 Horse Racing, 1 x £10 Football, 1 x £10 Bet Builder. 7 day expiry. Exclusions apply. Stake not returned. 18+. T&Cs apply.
However, PSG quickly adapted when Arsenal grew into the match, from around the half-four mark. Enrique even started playing Dembele ‘on the shoulder’, for a more direct and vertical style of play.
Then, in the second half, Goncalo Ramos — a bigger and stockier striker — came off the bench and acted well as a sort of target man. Three different approaches from the two players leading the attacking line and each one of them generated at least one good chance to score.
Glass half full?
Arsenal can take comfort in knowing that, even with a home loss, they still managed to get themselves in good goalscoring situations and were stopped by yet another insane display from Gianluigi Donnarumma on English soil, following his heroics in the quarter-finals against Aston Villa.
The Gunners actually had success to a certain extent with the best way to attack PSG. Their best opportunities either started from or happened in the left side, against the defensive weak link Achraf Hakimi. The Moroccan ended the game with five fouls, was dribbled past three times and managed two tackles, winning just four of his 15 ground duels in the game.
A better night in front of goal from Leandro Trossard and mainly Gabriel Martinelli could have led to a different outcome. At the same time, Arsenal also escaped from conceding twice later on, with both Ramos and Bradley Barcola missing clear-cut chances to add to PSG’s lead. Nonetheless, a one-goal deficit could be easily erased next week and it still feels wide open for what should be a cracking second leg at the Parc des Princes.
