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Louise Thomas
Editor
Samir Nasri pinpointed goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma as the player at fault for Paris Saint-Germain’s convincing 2-0 defeat by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night.
Kai Havertz had home Arsenal’s opener before stand-in captain Bukayo Saka doubled the hosts’ advantage with 10 minutes of the first half remaining.
Donnarumma appeared to struggle with balls sent into his box, failing to gather Leandro Trossard’s cross in the lead up to the first goal, and then allowing Saka’s free-kick to drift all the way through the area and into the far corner.
Nasri, the former Arsenal and France midfielder now working as a pundit, told Canal+: “Gianluigi Donnarumma, that’s his weakness, the aerial game.
“We see it in the replays of what he did tonight, how he reacted in the opening goal. The second goal? I blame him too. For me, it’s his fault … OK, no one touches it, but the free-kick is not taken hard.”
Despite Donnarumma being at fault for both goals, PSG manager Luis Enrique took the blame for the loss.
“I’m responsible for the defeat,” Luis Enrique said. “Their defenders always anticipated what our forwards were doing, and our forwards never managed to anticipate their defenders.”
Arsenal were the clearly superior side and Luis Enrique warned it would take time for PSG to close the gap to the best teams in Europe.
“Mikel Arteta has been managing Arsenal for the fifth year, I have been with my team for one year and two months,” he said. “I have a clear idea where I want to be, but I don’t know how long it will take.”
