Joe Cole believes Paris Saint-Germain have a ‘huge advantage’ over Arsenal for his or her Champions League semi-final tie.
The Premier League and Ligue 1 giants go head-to-head for a spot within the Champions League final.
Arsenal produced two stunning performances to cruise past Champions League holders Real Madrid within the quarter-finals.
Mikel Arteta’s side won 3-0 on the Emirates Stadium and 2-1 on the Bernabeu as they humbled the European champions over two legs.
PSG, meanwhile, booked their place within the semi-finals after surviving an enormous scare against Aston Villa.
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The French champions sealed a 3-1 win in the house leg and held on to 5-4 aggregate victory after losing at Villa Park.
Arsenal welcome PSG to the Emirates on April 29 before travelling to Paris for the second leg on May 6.
Cole was hugely impressed by Arsenal’s victory over Real Madrid but immediately warned the Gunners that PSG have a ‘huge advantage’ given the second semi-final leg is on home turf.
‘It’s a completely good night for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta,’ he told TNT Sports. ‘The club is in a implausible place.
‘The league has gone but their full focus is on this competition. They played PSG before [in the Champions League group phase] so there’s no uncertainty there.
Champions League semi-finals
Arsenal vs Paris Saint-Germain
Barcelona vs Inter Milan
Quarter-final exits: Real Madrid, Aston Villa, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich
‘A sticking point for Arsenal is the second leg is in Paris, I believe that’s massive, especially now the away goal rule has bene taken away. I believe that’s an enormous advantage for the team which have that.
‘But you may’t take anything away from Arsenal tonight, it’s such a implausible night. They were absolutely good, to go to Madrid and do this on the Bernabeu.’
While Cole believes PSG have a serious advantage over Arsenal, he insists the Gunners ‘have a probability’ of winning the Champions League, especially as they’ll focus entirely on their European commitments.
Arteta had aspirations of guiding Arsenal to their first domestic league title since 2004 earlier within the season but Liverpool have all but wrapped up the title race.
‘If Arsenal were within the [Premier League] title race I might give them no probability,’ ex-England midfielder Cole added.
‘But the actual fact they’ve got all their energy and give attention to the Champions League, they do have a probability.’
Arteta revels in ‘considered one of best nights of his profession’
Arteta was understandably delighted together with his Arsenal team after their impressive victory over the Champions League holders.
Chatting with TNT Sports after the sport, he said ‘It’s among the best nights in my football profession.
‘We played against a team with the most important history. It has been an inspiration for all of us on this competition.
‘To find a way to win the tie in the style we’ve got done – I believe we’ve got to be very happy with ourselves.
‘After two-to-three minutes you realise anything can occur on this stadium. Fortunately, lots of things went for us. Overall, we did what we needed to do to win the sport.
‘The history we’ve got on this competition is so short. The third time in our history of what we’ve got just done and we’ve got to construct on that.
‘This experience goes to assist us, obviously. We had full belief that we could beat this team and the players did it.’
Inter Milan will face Barcelona in the opposite semi-final after the Italians saw off Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich and the Spaniards eased past Borussia Dortmund.
Speaking after Inter reached the semi-finals, Hakan Calhanoglu said: ‘It was a stupendous evening, actually with lots of suffering, especially in the ultimate minutes.
‘We were already prepared to suffer, we knew that Bayern would put us in difficulty. After their first goal, we reacted well. After going 2-1 up, we were forced to defend but we kept believing in ourselves.’
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