PSV vs Arsenal LIVE: Champions League result and reaction as Gunners make history with huge win

Mikel Arteta joked that he knew Arsenal would put seven past PSV Eindhoven as he hailed a historic and unbelievable night for his players that all but secures their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

A double from Martin Odegaard and individual strikes by Jurrien Timber, Ethan Nwaneri, Mikel Merino, Leandro Trossard and Riccardo Calafiori sent Arsenal on their way to a thumping 7-1 triumph – their biggest away win in the Champions League.

It marked a remarkable reversal in fortunes for Arteta’s previously goal-shy side, who arrived in the Netherlands with three blanks from their last four outings and their Premier League dream up in smoke.

Joe Cole has claimed that 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri should go straight into Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad following his record-breaking performance for Arsenal in their Champions League demolition of PSV Eindhoven.

Former England midfielder Cole said that Nwaneri is the “most exciting young footballer in England and maybe Europe" and argued that the teenager should be included in Tuchel’s first England squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia.

There are a lot of elite footballers who still have the Champions Leaguetheme as their ringtone, and some will be actively playing it on the way to stadiums. Familiarity hasn’t dulled excitement. It’s fair to say that isn’t really from the relative laboriousness of the group stage, but rather the exquisite energy of the knockouts.

This week is where football history starts to be made, partly because of how visions of glory can be instantly consigned to the past. It is tension and tantalising opportunity all at once. Through that, there’s a distinctive thought, one even more striking than the sense many players will feel this week of stepping out into great stadiums. A good chunk of this season’s stars were children when watching Barcelona’s comeback against Paris Saint-Germain in 2017, the kind of game that made them first realise the unique magic of these nights.

That was obviously the case for Camp Nou’s current talents like Lamine Yamal, Pedri and Gavi but also stars like Jude Bellingham, Jamal Musiala, Ryan Gravenberch and arguably even William Saliba and Bukayo Saka. Such grandeur and mystique is what Uefa and all of football’s major stakeholders at least think they are striving for.

Ahead of today’s big game...

In Liverpool’s preparations for Paris Saint-Germain, the staff have already come across quite a difference to their last meetings, in the 2018-19 group stage. The French champions are now a team that come at you with everything. They are stripped down and lean, brimming with youthful energy like that of French winger Bradley Barcola. Even Ousmane Dembele, once as unfortunate a symbol of football’s excess as Neymar, isn’t wasting anything.

That marks quite a difference to when Thomas Tuchel stood in the Anfield dressing room in September 2018, and has since told people he couldn’t believe what he heard. As detailed in this writer’s book ‘States of Play’, the German tried to exhort his €600m team to just run more, only to receive the response “why?”

Perhaps even more relevant now...

Inside the Philips Stadion, there are reminders of PSV Eindhoven’s past, celebrations of former centre-forwards such as Romario, Ronaldo Nazario and Ruud van Nistelrooy who have graced the club and tormented defenders. As he walked along the corridors between the executive suites, Mikel Arteta could have been given a reminder of what he is missing.

It is carnival week in Eindhoven and plenty of people are descending on the Dutch city in fancy dress. Whether any have come in the garb of an Arsenal goalscorer or will impersonate a striker, even for a night, remains to be seen. The probability is that Mikel Merino will be leading the line for Arsenal in the Netherlands; the scorer of the Gunners’ only goals in their last four games but a midfielder by trade. With Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus injured, with Gabriel Martinelli only on the way back, with Raheem Sterling’s only goal this season coming against Preston, it may be Merino in attack.

There’s more Champions League action today too – here’s a list of the games:

Feyenoord vs Inter Milan – 5.45pm

Bayern Munich vs Bayer Leverkusen – 8pm

Benfica vs Barcelona – 8pm

PSG vs Liverpool – 8pm

Freed from their faltering pursuit of Liverpool, Arsenal set about enjoying themselves.

There was much to relish. Particularly a symbolic second goal: made by an 18-year-old, for a 17-year-old, the first time two teenagers ever combined for a Champions League goal for an English club. Myles Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri represent the success of the Hale End academy and the hopes for the future. Nwaneri became the third youngest scorer in the Champions League’s knockout stages, after Bojan Krkic and Jude Bellingham. Odegaard, with two goals and two assists, was the best player on the pitch though Rice was also excellent: finding the net when offside, setting up the crucial opener, purposeful and classy.

Arsenal now know that if they beat PSV in the last-16, they will face either Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals. The Gunners would host the first-leg.

Should the Gunners make it to the semi-finals, they will face either PSG/Liverpool or Club Brugge/Aston Villa. Arsenal would host the first-leg.

The final is on 31 May at the Allianz Arena in Munich.

Arsenal have more than one foot in the Champions League quarter-finals after thrashing PSV Eindhoven 7-1 in their last-16 first leg.

MIkel Arteta’s side became the first away team to score seven goals in a Champions League knockout tie and know they are likely to head to Madrid next with their route to the final set.

The Gunners finished an impressive third after the new and extended group phase of the competition, meaning they were seeded for the draw in Nyon.

Mikel Arteta’s side finished the group phase with victories over Sporting Lisbon, Monaco, Dinamo Zagreb and Girona, securing them a top-eight spot.

Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri became the third-youngest goalscorer in a Champions League knockout stage match as the 17-year-old found the target against PSV Eindhoven in the last-16.

Nwaneri finished off Myles Lewis-Skelly’s cross with a thumping first-time shot to double Arsenal’s lead on the night, with the academy graduate scoring his eighth goal of what has been a breakthrough season.

Nwaneri has helped Mikel Arteta’s side through an injury crisis in Arsenal’s attack - with Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus all unavailable - and he stepped up with another big goal.