PSG Were Scary Last Year, and They’re Still Scary This Year — Saliba Admits

William Saliba said Paris Saint‑Germain were a frightening side last season and remain so this year.

The 25‑year‑old has plenty of experience against the French champions, having met them in last season’s Champions League semi‑finals, shared a dressing‑room with several of their players in the national‑team setup, and spent four years playing in France.

Speaking at Arsenal’s media day (Vavel), Saliba acknowledged that PSG’s status as favourites is justified.

“It is normal that they are the favourites because they won the Champions League last season, and now they are in the final again. We have to fight and if we want to change that, we need to win,” he said.

“They have a great attack. I know them because I play with them for the national team and we played against them last season,” he added.

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“We know if we want to win against them we have to be at our best next Saturday because they are so, so good. They were scary last year, and they’re still scary this year. Nothing has changed. We know that if we want to beat them, we have to be 100 %.”

Reflecting on Arsenal’s Premier League title win on Tuesday night, Saliba said the victory over Everton was the moment he felt the Gunners were destined for the championship.

“We started the season well, but you know the Premier League is long. I started to feel we could do it in March. After the game against Everton, it was clear to me that we would win the league. When we came back from the national team it was a bit hard. But we kept going, we believed in ourselves, even after the loss against Manchester City, and now we are champions.”

When asked whether he looks forward to facing PSG’s attackers—Desire Doué, Ousmane Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who have netted 74 goals in Ligue 1 this season—Saliba replied, “Of course. We have the best defence this season. When you are the best, you want to play the best, so we are so happy to have attackers like this to play against us next Saturday and I hope we will win that battle.”