Arsene Wenger sees mental edge for Arsenal against PSG
The dream of a first Champions League title hangs in the balance as Arsenal travel to PSG needing to overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit. Club icon Arsène Wenger highlights a potential psychological advantage: Arsenal's objective is simple (win), while PSG face a complex mental test.
The stakes could hardly be higher as Arsenal prepare for a monumental Champions League semi-final second leg away to Paris Saint-Germain this week. Trailing 1-0 after a narrow defeat at the Emirates Stadium, Mikel Arteta's side face the daunting task of winning in the French capital to keep their European dream alive. With neither Arsenal nor PSG having ever lifted the coveted Champions League trophy, a place in the final represents a massive opportunity to make history.
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While PSG hold the advantage of a lead and home turf, legendary former Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger has identified a potentially crucial psychological element that could favour the Gunners. His insight centres on the mental approach each team must adopt heading into this decisive encounter.
For Arsenal, the situation possesses a stark, perhaps liberating, simplicity. Trailing on aggregate, their objective is crystal clear: they must play to win the match. There is no room for calculation or doubt about the required approach; attack is the only viable option to overcome the deficit. This clarity, Wenger suggests, removes a significant mental burden.
Wenger told beIN SPORTS that it would be very difficult for Arsenal to confront PSG with a passive attitude:
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“What is interesting in the Champions League, when you go away and home, is every time before you start the game in the second leg, you have a mental problem to resolve. The advantage for Arsenal is the mental problem is easy. They have to go and play and win. The mental problem for PSG is: do we play to win this game or do we play to protect our advantage and get them playing on the counter-attack, knowing you have to be very clear in your message to the team? As well, knowing that not everybody in the team will be necessarily aligned with you because if they decide to protect their advantage, it’s a little bit against the DNA of the team. So Luis Enrique has already come out and said they have another game to win and I believe, with the final in mind and you playing at home, it will be very difficult to have a passive attitude.”
