Mikel Arteta claims PSG star should have been sent off in another bizarre Arsenal excuse

Mikel Arteta has insisted Achraf Hakimi should not have been playing when Paris Saint-Germain eliminated Arsenal from the Champions League.

After a 1-0 victory at the Emirates last week, PSG finished the job back in the French capital, sealing a 3-1 aggregate win over the Gunners in their Champions League semi-final on Wednesday night.

Fabian Ruiz gave the hosts the lead on the night with a wonderful half volley in the first-half before Hakimi drilled a superb second home shortly after Vitinha missed from the penalty spot.

Bukayo Saka pulled one back four minutes later but PSG held on to set up a final showdown with Inter Milan.

Arsenal created a host of chances early on in the second leg with Declan Rice heading wide early on. Gianluigi Donnarumma also made two superb saves to deny Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard.

Arteta sensationally claimed Arsenal were the best team in the Champions League after their semi-final exit, adding PSG only made it through thanks to their ‘MVP’ Donnarumma.

It was in fact Hakimi who was officially named man of the match in Paris on Wednesday night – with Arteta now suggesting the Morocco international should have been suspended.

The right-back was shown a yellow card towards the end of the first-half of the first leg in north London, barging into Jurrien Timber. In the 86^th and 87^th minute of that game, he was penalised again for two fouls on Myles Lewis-Skelly and Gabriel Martinelli, escaping both incidents with no further action taken by the referee.

Speaking on Friday ahead of Arsenal’s Premier League clash with Liverpool, Arteta doubled down on his comments over Arsenal being the best side in the competition while suggesting Hakimi was lucky to be playing.

Asked if Arsenal’s failure to convert their chances highlighted what the club must set out to do this summer, Arteta said: ‘Yeah, but I mean that’s very volatile, and regardless of the players that you have, it happens.

‘And nobody can predict when there was a semi-final Inter versus Barcelona, if any of you could predict who was going to score, how he was going to score, it’s impossible.

‘It’s the right-back that scored a goal, he [then] he has the best chance in the game and he missed it. The centre-back that is left-footed scored with the right foot.

‘Then, against us, Hakimi, for sure, he shouldn’t be in the game the last ten minutes of the first leg so he could not play the second game and score when the expected goals are 0.07. It’s a lot of random things in football.’

Standing by his midweek comments, Arteta added: ‘100%. I’m watching it back, I’m watching all the stats. Obviously we have the best stats, and the best goal difference in the semi-final.

‘So it’s very clear. But it’s not about the winning probability or what you merit, it’s actually making it happen and making it count.

‘When you look at the important stats that normally give you the best platform to win football matches, it’s crystal clear who was better.’