Ruiz and Hakimi send PSG past Arsenal into Champions League final

PARIS – Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique insisted his team deserved their place in the Champions League final and were determined to go on and lift the trophy after winning their last-four tie against Arsenal on May 7.

“Over the two legs, we scored more goals than them and in football it’s the most important thing, but Arsenal played a great game and we suffered a lot,” the Spaniard said after PSG’s 2-1 win in the second leg in Paris secured a 3-1 aggregate triumph.

Goals either side of half-time by Fabian Ruiz and Achraf Hakimi put the French champions ahead at the Parc des Princes before Bukayo Saka pulled one back for Arsenal, while PSG’s Vitinha had a penalty saved.

However, the hosts needed goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to make several vital saves, with Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta claiming his team had been better over the two legs. “It is the match in which we suffered the most (in the Champions League),but we deserve to get to the final,” said Enrique.

Taking a cue from Yann Sommer’s brilliant goalkeeping display a day before when the Switzerland shot-stopper helped Inter Milan reach the Champions League final, Donnarumma threw himself into the limelight, keeping Arsenal at bay almost single-handedly in the opening stages as the visitors sought to cancel out the 1-0 deficit from the first leg.

His instinctive save from Gabriel Martinelli’s close-range effort was superb, but minutes later he topped it by stretching to somehow get a hand to Martin Odegaard’s fierce low shot through a crowd of players.

“It was a beautiful match. My save today on Odegaard? It was very nice, the ball went between the legs of one of my teammates. I work a lot on low balls, but Mother Nature also had her say,” the