Wayne Rooney, who won the Champions League with Manchester United in 2008, focused on Arsenal about their approach to their semi-final collision of the first legs with Paris Saint-Germain
Wayne Rooney was extremely critical of Arsenal because they were beaten 1-0 by Paris Saint-Germain in the first stage of their semi-final clash of the Champions League. An early strike by Ousmane Dembele turned out to be the winner, with PSG emerging victor to the Emirates.
Arsenal will now have to come from behind in the second stage in the Parc des Princes next week if they want to reach the final for the first time since 2006, when they were beaten 2-1 by Barcelona.
And Rooney, who won the tournament with Manchester United in 2008, focused on Arsenal about their approach to the luminaire. Rooney worked on the game as an expert for Amazon Prime and had five main criticism at Arsenal.
Here Mirror Football looks a look in Rooney's comments for the second stage …
Rice claim
Declan Rice tried to inspire his teammates with a big speech during warming and told them: “If we don't have the ball, we die.”
However, Rooney thought that his comments were naive, because PSG would always dominate the ball and they eventually had more possession than Arsenal. “I understand what Declan says there, but Arsenal has to understand that there will be great periods of this game and next week's game, where they will not have the ball,” he explained
“They must ensure that they are focused if they don't have the ball. Stay together, stay compact and take advantage when they have it.”
Fans struck
Rooney was critical of the Arsenal fans after the game and claimed that they believed that they “would walk into the final” after beating Real Madrid in the quarterfinals.
Rooney also focused on the Emirates atmosphere and described it as “modest”. Rooney said: “PSG could have won the game with two or three.
“I was a bit disappointed about how Arsenal played and also the fans. It was modest. It was as if they defeated Real Madrid and walk into the final.”
Error
Rooney thought that Rice was also the fault of Dembele's goal and claimed that the midfielder should have covered the space that the PSG star came in before he scored.
“It is a really good pass that breaks the lines,” Rooney explained. “Arsenal has enough time to recover.
“Rice makes the wrong decision, he thinks he is trying to cover, but he leaves the space of the danger of where Dembele is. In the quarterfinals, the semi -final, those details and you lose the competition and today Arsenal has become a lot wrong.”
Raya comments
Goalkeeper David Raya tried to emphasize the positive points for Arsenal after the game and claimed that they “dominated most of the game” after the opening of 20 minutes.
However, Rooney had the problem with his comments and said: “I think what happened there is that Mikel Arteta probably went in and tried to be as positive as he can be and David Raya has returned that message because that is certainly not what happened in the game.
Arsenal's “fear”
Arsenal has only won one trophy since Mikel Arteta took the lead in 2019 and Chelsea defeated FA Cup -Final in the 2020, and Rooney believes that their defeat against PSG height points are falling in recent years.
“I think there is a fear for Arsenal in recent years, psychologically, there is a fear of not getting over the line,” Rooney explained. “They have closed Manchester City in the competition a few times, they have walked Liverpool a little close, now they have defeated Madrid and they are close to the Champions League …
“I think there is a fear. There is an obstacle that they have to continue. You must be successful to build, and that is the only way you can build is successful on the way to the trip to the top, and I don't think they are taking those steps.”