Vitinha reveals the main reason behind PSG’s Champions League triumph against Arsenal, ‘it was key…’

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The dust has settled on Arsenal’s 2024/25 Champions League campaign.

Having finished in the top three in the new league format, and after an excellent win against Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, the Gunners ultimately fell to PSG at the final hurdle before the final.

Mikel Arteta was proud of his Arsenal side in the immediate aftermath of the loss, praising his squad privately and during interviews conducted with the media.

The Arsenal manager was right to do so, with the Gunners pushing their French opponents hard in the second leg.

This is something PSG midfielder Vitinha has since spoken about in detail, while also revealing why his side ultimately progressed to the Champions League final.

Vitinha says PSG’s ‘control’ of the game ‘was key’ to knocking Arsenal out of the Champions League

Speaking to Rio Ferdinand on the former Manchester United defender’s YouTube channel Rio Ferdinand Presents, Vitinha explained that PSG’s ‘control’ of possession and the game was what set them apart against Arsenal.

The 25-year-old said that he knew the English sides “were going to [bring] a different intensity. That was the main worry, for myself, that I got before playing them, the kind of intensity that they put in defence and attack.

“We saw it against Liverpool at Anfield, Aston Villa at Villa [Park]. We saw it against Arsenal [at the Parc des Princes].”

The former Wolves midfielder continued: “Sometimes we couldn’t have the control that we wanted, but most of the time we had it. And I think it was the key to most of the wins that we had because that’s our strength.”

Interestingly, Declan Rice pointed this out before the first leg in the Emirates tunnel, exclaiming that “If [Arsenal] don’t have the ball, we die.”

Arsenal’s performance in the second leg was far stronger than in the first

Despite losing both games, most Arsenal fans will recognise that their side was better in the second leg than in the first.

This is something backed up by the stats as well.

In the first game, PSG edged possession with 52.1% of the ball and had more shots than Arsenal, including two late chances through Goncalo Ramos and Bradley Barcola that would have seen the Ligue 1 champions leave London with a commanding lead.

By comparison, in the second leg, Arsenal enjoyed more of the ball, creating a whopping 3.14 expected goals by comparison to their opponent’s 1.74.

The stats therefore back up Vitinha’s argument that Arsenal’s intensity at the Parc des Princes caused PSG problems, but their dominance of the early stages of the first leg especially is something Arsenal struggled to live with.

Vitinha’s words will ultimately be of little comfort to Mikel Arteta, but they are worth taking some solace from if the Gunners are to go one step further in the 2025/26 campaign.