PSG end Arsenal's Champions League dream | Maddison's season over with injury | Could Amorim's honesty be an issue?
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Welcome to Back Pages, bringing you everything you need to know about the biggest sports stories making the headlines in the morning's newspapers. I'm Teddy Draper and joining me, a sports journalist and broadcaster, Henry Winter and the Sun's football reporter, Jack Rosser. Welcome to your boat.

And so come to you, Henry, by the way, of the back page of The Times. Au revoir, Arsenal. Ruiz and Hakimi condemn Arteta to fifth season without silverware as PSG reach final. What were your reflections, Henry, on Arsenal tonight?

I mean, they were okay in bursts, but the old flaws, the fact they don't have a number nine, they didn't have a clinical finisher, and they lacked that midfield control and intelligence that PSG had. I mean, it wasn't simply Jao Neves and Fabian Ruiz. I thought Hakimi at right back scored a fantastic goal. I mean...

They were outstanding. They had responsibility takers all over the pitch. Nuno Mendes got an early booking and yet he stuck pretty much manfully to his task against Bakayo Saka, who did move into the centre and then scored.

But I think Arsenal will look at this and you look at a player like Declan Rice and you look at the way he's grown in Europe and you'll see these are the type of players that Arsenal are going to need, not simply on the pitch, but off the pitch as well, because there's going to be so much noise around Arsenal. We've been through this with big English clubs before when they bow out and they're perceived to have underachieved.

And they're just going to need the strength of someone like Declan Rice to rally the team as they go, obviously, to Anfield at the weekend. And then they've got the difficult game against Newcastle. They're going to need the manager, Mikel Arteta, to be strong. And they're particularly going to need the board to be strong and to say that they are going to back Mikel Arteta because there'll be so much noise, not simply on social media, but around the ground and elsewhere as well. People...

We'll have an element of Schadenfreude with Mikel Arteta, who does divide opinions in fan bases across the country. And they're just going to have to be strong. They're just going to have to go out and recruit, whether it's Jokeres as a number nine they're crying out for, whether it's Zubimendi in midfield. They need a left winger as well. So now's the time to be strong, to lick their wounds, to learn their lessons and to move on but strengthen.

Henry uses the word strong, Jack. The back page of The Sun has the word power, Eiffel power, Vava Gloom, as Ruiz and Hakimi see off Gunners. I'm sure we'll get to the striker issue, but was there a deeper point there around power, around energy, that this was simply a more athletic opponent?

I'm not sure if they were more athletic. I think Arsenal are probably the more physically imposing side. And you could see they tried to use that. They slung an awful lot of crosses into the box. Thomas Partey with long throw after long throw. But I think maybe the energy that PSG have now and the work rate. And Arsenal worked incredibly hard. A lot of them were tireless throughout the Champions League.

knockout stages to get to this point. But PSG's energy and organisation in pressing teams and running at them and running back and working back. Kvarek Schkelia, the incredible work he puts in to come back and help Mendes deal with Bakayo Saka is incredible.

is really something to behold. And I think that's really caused Arsenal problems. They weren't able to control games at times when they needed to, and they weren't really able to deal with that energy, which few sides have been able to. They've beaten so many teams, PSG and the Champions League this season. They've beaten Manchester City, Liverpool, Aston Villa, and now Arsenal. They've knocked out

those last three in the knockout stages when the Premier League has got such a huge financial gap to so many of these clubs, maybe even someone like PSG, the depth that some of them have. But Arsenal just weren't able to deal with the spirit and the energy that PSG have. And finally, they look like

a team really. We've seen them so many times over the years fall short in the Champions League with some of the biggest stars in world football. I was at their semi-final last season when, you know, Kylian Mbappe was on the pitch trying to win the Champions League before he left the club and they just didn't really click collectively as a team. But now they've got a real ethos and so few teams have been able to deal with that this season. We'll see if PSG can go and win it for the first time

in their club's history. Arsenal still haven't, Henry. The Telegraph Sports Supplement French-fried Arsenal's trophy dream crushed. Is there any significance in the history, Henry? We know about clubs that have that affinity, that history with the Champions League. Arsenal just won UEFA Cup back in 94. Do you feel there's maybe a lack of belief that they will triumph at this stage?

I mean, you've got a picture there of Declan Rice on the pullout of the telegraph, and he's pictured elsewhere. I mean, Declan Rice, certainly not short of belief. He's been outstanding for Arsenal in the last two or so months. I'm sure there'll be more debate about Martin Odegaard and whether he imposes himself enough...

I mean, you look at Myles Lewis-Skelly, there's no shortage of belief in a kid like him. You know, he looked to the man of born in Europe this season. There was no shortage of belief when they took on Real Madrid home and away and did well against them. So, yeah,

I think as much it's deficiencies on the pitch and particularly the number nine. I know everyone's looking for a number nine, but Arsenal and their fans have been saying it for two, three years. And it is a blind spot with Arteta. And he needs to address that. But I don't think belief was so much of an issue. I know they'll have this, oh, they bottled it again. And that will get thrown at them. But I don't think it's belief. I think it's a shortage of its deficiencies in the squad.

Au revoir Arsenal, Jack, is the headline in the Guardian Sports Supplement. Gallant gunners out as PSG plough into final. Gallant, I guess, a word we associate with a lot of England exits from tournaments. Do you think that's right tonight or was it lacking just the class, the ingredients, as Henry says there, maybe the calibre?

I think there's a bit of both. I think the first leg, you can definitely say we wanted to see a lot more from Arsenal. They were a bit passive going forwards at times. They struggled to really impose themselves like they did on Real Madrid in the quarterfinals. But I think tonight they were brave. They started incredibly fast and were denied by some fantastic work by Donnarumma. They kept pushing, but Kaya Saka especially kept pushing. I mean, the chance he missed, how many times he'll...

replay that in his head. You know, you have to feel sorry for him. I don't think he'll forget that for some time. But he especially kept going. But at times it did feel like it was all on him to make something happen going forward for Arsenal. Whereas you look at PSG, you look at Barcelona into Milan and there are a number of different players, you know, doing it for them. I was in Milan last night in whatever position

Barcelona got into you felt they still had enough talent enough different threats to to pull something back and get back into the game and you look at this Arsenal squad and whether it's in the starting 11 Martinelli started well and then faded a bit they don't really have the the depth to bring off the bench and that is as Henry said the real glaring thing Mikel Arteta pointed out at a press conference fairly recently the one thing they need to regularly contend not just in the Champions League but keep it in the Premier League as well across both

competitions is depth and quality of depth. And he's got a lot of power at the club now, so it can't just be, come on, the board need to give this to me. Arteta needs to make a decision on who he's going to bring in and make sure it's a good one. That's an interesting point, Jack. The back page of the eye, Gunners left singing the blurs. Do you...

Obviously the French word for blues. Do you, Henry, think along those lines, Arteta now, he's been there five years without a trophy, three years since Aubameyang left. Has he not been decisive enough in recruitment or do you blame other people at the club?

Well, he's had the FA Cup. Obviously, that was slightly behind closed doors. So that was a frustration. I do think that you can see him. If you go back to when he arrived and you look at the squad then and you look at it now, certainly the starting 11 with, as we say, the absence of a number nine, they've definitely improved year on year. I mean, if they hold on to second place, that'll be three seconds easier.

in a row. I know everyone's sort of demanding, but I think if you talk to people around the club, they do sense that they have a manager who is building and he certainly deserves a definitely another season. What do you think, Jack, on that point around Arteta? How confident would you be as an Arsenal supporter that he's the right manager to lead them to that trophy?

I think he certainly is. The players all clearly are fully behind him and with him and he gets a tune out of them on so many occasions. And that's the key thing you need as a manager is the belief of your players and a connection with the fan base. And he has both of those things and it will be thrown at him. He had the FA Cup in his first season, but it's five.

full seasons without a trophy now and they have been consistently improving but this season does feel like a bit of a backward step really. They've not been able to challenge Liverpool anywhere near to the level they would have liked to have done. You would have thought at the start of the season if somebody told you Manchester City were going to have an awful season by their standards, Arsenal were primed to walk through. They've obviously, as Arteta always points out, had so many injuries to deal with this season. They've had a few players back that were missing a couple of players recently

tonight as well, but you don't feel like they would have made so much of a difference that Arsenal would have got past this PSG side. But I think in Arteta they have someone that everyone within the club has so much belief in and he gets his players playing for him. So as long as he has that, then he's got every chance of winning them a trophy. And Arteta has said tonight post-match, Henry, he doesn't believe there's a better team or has been a better team in the Champions League this season than Arsenal. Your thoughts on that?

Well, it's nonsense. But I mean, you know, you can sort of understand, you know, he might be feeling particularly down at the moment. So you can't read necessarily too much into it. No, I think if you look at, I mean, Inter Milan as a team, PSG as a team, as Jack was rightly pointing out, you know, this is not the Galacticos, the sort of, you know, the Hollywood 11. This is a real proper team. PSG have probably been the team of the

of the tournament. Barcelona, getting to the semi-finals, have had two of the players, two or three of the players of the tournament. So, no, I think Arsenal have had, produced, you know, a couple of the results of the Champions League. But I think if you looked at the league phase, that was Liverpool. Does he help himself all the time, Jack? Do you think he maybe should reflect on what he says sometimes? Mikel Arteta, we came into this game with him claiming two league titles based on having more points at this stage of last season than Liverpool.

It's a difficult one, isn't it? Because I think if you if you criticise him for saying things like this, then you start criticise managers for being far too dull. I think he is playing to the Arsenal fans with that. And I that I will always support a manager who comes out and says faintly ridiculous things every now and then because it it makes for a good copy for all of us and gives us all something quite entertaining to talk about.

Quick word on who we think is going to win it, Henry. It's going to be a fantastic final in Munich. Where's your hunch? I mean, Inter are going to be so difficult to beat, but I'd love PSG to do it because they haven't done it before, because of the youthful exuberance, because they play with a hand break off, because they've got this extraordinary goalkeeper who would absolutely love to do something against Inter. Yeah, two great keepers, isn't it, as well, Sommer and Donnarumma. What do you think, Jack?

I think the interesting thing we'll see how Inter Milan approach it. They obviously feigned for being very shrewd and frugal at the back, but went all out against Barcelona across two legs. So if they do that, we're going to have one hell of a final. But I think PSG, Henry mentioned it, have been the team of the tournament and I think they might just do it. Come to you, Jack, with the back page of the Mirror. Mad blow, so sad for Spurs. James Madison out of the Bodo Glimp game and the rest of the season...

How sad is it, Jack, for football fans? I suppose anyone that was impressed by Madison's recovery this season in lots of ways. Yeah, it's a really difficult one, isn't it? I don't think it will be too much of a problem for Spurs tomorrow night. But in terms of how they end their season and should they reach the Europa League final as we expect them to, then it's a really sad one, isn't it? And James Madison is such a likeable character, the way he speaks, the way he plays. He's someone that...

Tottenham fans certainly love and I think fans of a lot of rival clubs have a soft spot for. He's someone that you always want to see go and do well and for him to come back and play the role in the first leg as well and then to have this blow, it almost sums up Tottenham's season really. They've had

A lot of problems of their own causing, shooting themselves in the foot a number of times. But they've had so many big issues to deal with, injuries to key players at significant times. And this just feels like another one. They've had to deal with an awful lot of it and they're going to have to ask for...

some younger players to step up and show what they can do once again and in perhaps Tottenham's biggest game, well, their biggest game since the Champions League final a few years ago as well. Yeah, assuming they make that Europa League final in Bilbao. Season over for injured Madison is the headline in the Express. It's been these recurrent injury crises, Henry. Do you think there'll be a root and branch review at Tottenham into what exactly has happened, whether the sports science department could have helped?

In terms of strengthening the medical side as well as strengthening the squad. Yeah. These things are under review all the time at every club. If you go to Tottenham's training ground, it's like going to NASA. They've got everything there. I'm sure that they'll be absolutely looking at that. Just to echo Jack's point, it's really sad about Maddison because he's an entertainer. If you're a player like Solanke, you want Maddison between the lines feeding you through those balls as well. He hasn't had much luck with injuries.

and, you know, he looks like he's going to be missing out on a final. Absolutely. Well, let's go to the back page of The Sun and continue the Tottenham theme, sort of, but rather Ange Postakoglu's reaction to Arsene Wenger suggesting that the winner of the Europa League should not qualify for the Champions League. Posti's pop at Wenger, Ange Postakoglu, says, Tottenham make people go, quote, crazy, writes Tom Barkley. What do you make, Jack, of the way that Ange Postakoglu handles these kind of provocative, teasing questions from journalists?

I quite like it and I think he's someone that has had quite a few issues with the Tottenham fan base across the season. We've seen so many clips of him confronting someone here and there. He's had so much talk about whatever happens, even if he does win them a trophy for the first time in so many years, that he's going to be on his way. He's been quite prickly at times, but he seems to be enjoying himself again and livening up a little bit. I think he's right in the way he handles it and the fact he's

sort of got on the side and said this is what Tottenham does to people I think a lot of fans will will certainly like the way he's dealt with that and I think he's got a point as well the fact that it is now that Arsene Wenger has decided to to mention this is rather curious it's been in place since 2014 2015 I think that this has always happened he referenced you know Tottenham finished fifth

last year and didn't qualify for the Champions League because the English coefficient wasn't quite there. If they'd finished fifth this year, they would have been in there. And there's been a lot of talk as well of either them or Manchester United sneaking into the Champions League by the back door, but the Europa League...

Maybe not in as much as the recent years because the Champions League teams don't drop down anymore, but it's still a hard competition to go and win, especially when you're having a season like this and have to flip between the two. So I think they deserve a bump up to the Champions League for winning this trophy as well. Yeah, I think both sets of fans may not be overly optimistic at the moment where they thrust into the Champions League, Henry, but there's a summer between now and then. Postacoglu, Spurs does crazy things to people. Matt Law covering it in the Telegraph. How key is...

Costa Coghlo's positivity over the next few weeks, do you think? And how much pressure is he going to be under in the run-up to this potential final? We should say it's potential still. Yeah, it's like the good old days. Wenger having a ruck with a Tottenham manager. I think it's terrific. I mean, it's ridiculous what Wenger was saying. He should really focus closer to home and not on UEFA competitions, but more on what FIFA are doing to play a workload. I think he also came out with some interesting points on...

and having daylight. I think that was an interesting development for Wenger this week. But no, Postakoglu, who, as Jack says, doesn't often have much right on his side in terms of his press conference this season, is completely spot on with this one.

OK, let's talk about Ruben Amarim, the other side of the Europa League equation from an English perspective. In the Telegraph next to that story, sometimes we lose our minds. Amarim warns United players taking that 3-0 lead in against Athletic. Says sometimes during the game we are one team, something happens and we lose our mind a little bit. He's also said they need to score against Bilbao again, Jack. It's brilliant, radical candour for us, but could this affect his players negatively, some of his honesty?

I do love how honest he is. Some of the stuff he's come out with this season, I think Jim Ratcliffe mentioned it at one point when he was doing a run of interviews that maybe he's a bit too open and honest at times. And I think if you're a player in there, they'll all know that mentally they've not been at their best all season and have crumbled a few times when they really should have been able to push on. Obviously, they showed to reach this point that they can

drag themselves back from it as well but they put them in some trouble against it put themselves in some trouble against the on there they all know it's a problem I don't think they'd be overly happy to be reminded of it when they should be sitting on a very comfortable lead with a Bill Bowers side that are coming to Manchester with with neither of the Williams brothers as well and their top score are not available this should be absolutely cruising for Manchester United so I

Maybe he's just trying to liven it up for the neutral by planting a seed in their mind or something. He's certainly talking his team down, Henry, isn't he? He said they might be the worst team ever to win a European title from the Premier League. What do you make of it as a strategy?

Well, first, I like his honesty. I think that it's exactly what Manchester United need. They needed a shake-up. There have been too many people there, players who have been coasting. They needed Amarant to come in mid-season. They're not his players, or Dorgou is. But, yeah, absolutely, they've needed shaking up. I mean, he did sort of call them, I think, the worst team in Manchester United's history. He's now so slightly hedged his bets on that. They're now the worst team, but only in the last 50 years.

So, look, it's up to the players to respond to that criticism because I think if you talk to the fans, they will completely agree with Amarim. Indeed. Well, they got relegated in 74, so his timing is probably just about right, isn't it, in that 50-year period? Maybe a ray of hope here, Jack, in the sun.

from Martin Blackburn. Garnaccio is staying. Alejandro Garnaccio is planning to stay at Manchester United. Chelsea are in the hunt for the Argentina winger with Napoli failing with a £40m bid in January. Is that a hugely positive story, do you think, from a United fans' perspective? I think it will be. The one thing that United fans have been able to get

about in the last couple of years when it's been so hard for them to watch all the chaos at their club and obviously they won the FA Cup last year but knowing that it wasn't going all well behind the scenes and then Ten Hag staying and going and Amarim coming in and saying things like they're the worst team in history and seeing a lot of players come and go that have offered not a lot

The one thing they've been able to invest in it is the young players, seeing people like Garnaccio, Cobby Mayne, who come through and have moments and enjoy themselves playing for Manchester United. And Garnaccio has been on and off a bit this season, but when he's really on it, he's an incredibly dangerous and talented player. And for a Manchester United fan to see someone like that move to a club like Chelsea that they've had a rivalry with over the past 15, 20 years would be amazing.

would be sickening for them. The way Chelsea are going, you might go there and vanish a bit, but it would still be painful for them to watch it happen if you were to go on and succeed. I'm sure Manchester City fans haven't liked watching Cole Palmer do what he's done at Stamford Bridge over the last couple of seasons. So for Manchester United to do that and have to do that because of the poor financial management of the club as well would be a very painful thing. So I'm sure they'll be very glad to see him stay. Henry, your thoughts on Gannaccio? How good can he be?

Well, he's a terrific player. I don't think he necessarily fits into Amarin's tactical template of 3-4-2-1. I think he's best in a 4-3-3. I think if he went to Chelsea, as Jack says, he would almost sort of vanish. I don't think they need any more wide players. They've almost got a shed full of them. They need a centre forward and a new goalkeeper. But look, he's a terrific talent and you want to see one of our own homegrown players stay.

OK, Henry, our time is running out, so we can't discuss rugby too much. We want to get your thoughts on Maroua Toje in 20 seconds or so, leading the 40-man Lions squad on tour of Australia. First Englishman since Martin Johnson, but is it diluted a little bit by the lack of options for the coach, Farrell?

Well, I think the Irish number eight, Doris, he's injured. That's really unfortunate. Mario Toggi has been a terrific captain for England this season. They came second in the Six Nations. So I think he's a fantastic choice for his ability on the pitch and his sort of ambassadorial qualities off the pitch.