Arsenal had ‘fear to win’ against PSG, claims four-time Champions League winner Clarence Seedorf

Arsenal had a “fear to win” against Paris Saint-Germain and must have a “shift in mentality” to reach the final, according to four-time Champions League winner Clarence Seedorf.

PSG will take a 1-0 lead back to the French capital after silencing the Emirates in the semi-final first leg on Tuesday evening, with Ousmane Dembele’s early goal settling the contest.

Arsenal had chances to equalise - with Gianluigi Donnarumma making two excellent saves to deny Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard - but PSG were able to control the game against Mikel Arteta’s side.

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The Gunners knocked out Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, winning at the Bernabeu, and they will have to come from behind against PSG to advance to the Munich final.

But Seedorf, who won the Champions League with Ajax, Real Madrid and Milan, believes Arsenal have to take another step if they are to progress.

“Winning some matches is one thing and winning the Champions League is another,” Seedorf told Amazon Prime Video. “I think the fear to win kicked in today.

“I am an Arsenal fan in terms of how they have played over the years but I’ve always said for them to elevate to that winning club, there has to be a shift in mentality.

“I saw Paris Saint-Germain doing what I expected Arsenal to do, knowing when to press high, go low and sit back and wait for the opponent to force a pass and then counter attack. This is how you have to play in the Champions League and I didn’t see that at all from Arsenal.”

Seedorf’s comments were echoed by former Manchester United striker and Champions League winner Wayne Rooney, who pointed to Arsenal’s near-misses in the Premier League over the last couple of seasons.

“I think for Arsenal, there’s a fear,” Rooney said. “Over the last few years there’s a fear, psychologically there’s a fear of just not getting over the line.

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“We’ve seen it, they’ve ran Manchester City close a few times in the league, they’ve ran Liverpool a little bit close, now they’ve beat Madrid, there’s a hurdle they have to get over. You need to be successful to build.”

Afterwards, Arteta said he believes Arsenal can “do something special” in Paris.

“We are at half-time, and my message is exactly the same as it was after we beat Real Madrid 3-0 in the first leg of the quarter-final. We have to go to Paris and win the game, and we are more than capable of doing it,” the Arsenal manager said.

“If you want to win the Champions League final, you have to do something special, and we are going to have to do something special in Paris to be there. We still have a lot of chances to be in that final.”