Arsenal’s first Champions League semi-final in 16 years is upon us, with an excellent Paris Saint-Germain visiting the Emirates on Tuesday night.
After bypassing PSV Eindhoven at a canter, the Gunners impressively dismantled 15-time winners (and current holders) Real Madrid in the quarter-finals. We’ve seen Mikel Arteta’s side cross new frontiers since they returned to the competition in 2023, and now they’re just two games away from just their second-ever appearance in club football’s grandest event.
Arsenal overcame the allure and heritage of Los Blancos last time out, impressively exposing Madrid’s collective vulnerability by taming their supreme individuals. While PSG perhaps don’t boast the superstar power of the Spanish behemoths, they’re cohesion as a unit has allowed them to grind out two knockout stage victories over tough Premier League oppositon.
This is a PSG team unlike previous star-studded iterations which almost always failed to coalsece. Luis Enrique deserves tremendous credit for building such a unified outfit, and they’re vastly improved from when they last visited the Emirates in October.
Les Parisiens certainly aren’t shy of talent all over the pitch, and the arrival of a maverick in January helped PSG evolve from good to great in the new year.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is the PSG star Arsenal must stop in Champions League semi-final
Kvaratskhelia has hit the ground running at PSG | Franco Arland/GettyImages
Signed as a relative unknown in 2022, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia departed Napoli earlier this year as an immortal. The Georgian winger inspired the southern Italian club to Serie A glory during his debut campaign, with Neapolitans quick to hold Kvaratskhelia in a similar light to club’s eternal idol: Diego Maradona.
“”Diego Maradona inspired my goal? Well… I love him! He’s like God in Napoli. I loved Diego as all the other people from Napoli, as I spent a lot of time there and he was a legend.””
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
‘Kvaradona’, as he was labelled, broke Neapolitan hearts over the winter, but he’s a player that even the most ardent of Napoli supporters will surely forgive in due course. You can’t help but be captured by the winger every time he takes to the field.
PSG are blessed with an array of dazzling forward options, and I could’ve named any one of Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue, or Bradley Barcola as the star who’d potentially take this tie away from the stubborn Gunners. Dembele, who didn’t travel with the squad to north London back in October, is the most prolific performer in Europe this calendar year, while Doue has emerged as a versatile sensation who has the capacity to blossom into one of the very best of his generation.
However, there’s an aura surrounding the Georgian which is hard to quantify. He’s magnetic out on the left. A throwback footballer who you can’t help but root for amid a time of increased roboticness and final third predictability.
There aren’t enough Dembele’s and Kvaratskhelia’s in the game anymore – players that get you off your seat! 👏🏼
— Harry Symeou (@HarrySymeou) March 5, 2025
Is he jumping out on the stats sheet in Paris? Not particularly. He has eight goal contributions in 21 appearances. Doue, Dembele, and Barcola average more progressive carries, Dembele’s recording more shot-creating actions per 90, while Doue’s notching more successful dribbles per 90 this term (stats provided by FBRef).
But, as I said, there’s something intangible about Kvaratskhelia. The same goes for PSG’s other attacking stars, but there’s a greater sense that something will occur every time the low sock-donning Georgian receives possession.
He’ll be stationed out on the left, but as we’ve seen throughout the knockout stages, PSG’s frontline is relentlessly interchanging. Dembele’s deployment as a false nine as aided such positional fluidity, but so has the addition of the care-free Kvaratskhelia.
The duality of the dogged winger has manifested during their Champions League run, with his willingness to contribute defensively on full display at Anfield before his magic in possession compromised Axel Disasi at the Parc des Princes. He, like the rest of his teammates, is willing to sacrifice for the common cause, and that’s what makes this PSG team so dangerous.
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