The Gunners' hopes of winning the trophy for the first time were ended by a 2-1 loss (3-1 on aggregate) to the French giants in Wednesday's (07.05.25) second leg and the manager felt that his team deserved more from the tie.

Arteta told TNT Sports: "First of all, congratulations PSG for reaching the final. An assessment I will make when I'm a little bit cooler. The feeling straight away from the other bench is we were much better than them.

"When you look at the two games, the best player on the pitch has been the goalkeeper; he's made a difference for them in the tie.

"I thought we were very close, much closer than our results showed. I'm very proud of the players, what we've done today, the way we started, how we handled the pressure, the amount of pressure after 20 minutes, it should be 3-0.

"But there is something extra you need in the competition to go your way and it didn't."

Arteta insists that his side had been the best team in the tournament this season and felt that PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma's excellent performance had been the difference between the two sides.

He said: "I don't think there's been a better team in the competition this season, what I have seen. But we are out tonight. This competition is about the boxes and in the boxes there are normally the strikers and the goalkeeper. He was the best player in both games."

Arteta praised his players for the effort they put in despite their lack of a centre forward because of long-term injuries to Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus.

The coach said: "I'm so proud of the boys and they deserve a lot of credit for what they're doing in the context and situation. The amount of injuries, we have arrived here in the worst state that you can arrive as a team."