Mesut Ozil scored on his return to the Arsenal starting XI in an emphatic 5-1 International Champions Cup win over an unfamiliar Paris Saint-Germain side, while Alexandre Lacazette netted a brace.
2018 International Champions Cup
5-1
Match Events
13' GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 PSG (Özil)
GOOOAAALLL! ARSENAL LEAD 1-0.
The Gunners break forward on the counter-attack and Aubameyang managed to evade the offside trap, he sprints through on goal, spotted Ozil making a run into the centre of the box and in a much better position.
The striker picked his team-mate out with a superb low pass, straight into the path of Ozil who made no mistakes with the finish, firing the ball past Buffon.
22' SAVE! Buffon denies Iwobi's shot
GREAT CHANCE! Iwobi with a terrific opportunity to make it 2-0 to Arsenal.
The midfielder managed to find space in behind the PSG backline down the left wing after a lovely flick by Ozil into his path. Iwobi opts to go for goal himself after working the ball onto his right foot. However, Buffon gets down quickly and makes a superb save
29' Another decent save from Buffon!
GREAT SAVE! Buffon showing his class once again to deny Arsenal another goal.
Aubameyang is looking very lively today and he once again gets behind the PSG defence, but he fires his shot straight at Buffon who made sure he remained on his feet and made a strong save.
33' SAVE! Leno stops Weah's long shot
Good save! This time it's Leno that is called into action after a mistake by Ozil, which gives the ball straight back to PSG deep inside the Arsenal final third.
Weah then picks up the ball and fires a shot at goal from the edge of the area, however Leno reads the effort well and manages to parry the ball to safety.
44' The THIRD stunning save from Buffon!
A THIRD SAVE from Buffon! It should be 3-0 to the Gunners here, but Buffon once again was the saviour for PSG.
Guendouzi plays a ball from left-back for Mkhitaryan, who finds so much space between the two centre-backs. However, his shot is far too close to Buffon and the PSG keeper makes the save. He certainly should be doing better from there.
50' Brilliant free-kick shot from Nkunku
PSG CHANCE! The French side had a free-kick around 30 yards out from goal, which Nkunku stepped up take.
The free-kick was on target but not close enough to the corner of the net and Martinez was able to make a good, strong save.
60' Penalty Goal! Arsenal 1-1 PSG (Nkunku)
PENALTY! Weah uses his pace to get around Kolasinac and the left-back brings him down with his trailing leg. A clear penalty which could give PSG an excellent chance to get back into the game.
GOOOAAALLL! PSG ARE LEVEL 1-1.
Nkunku steps up to take the spot-kick, he blasts the ball past Martinez who had no chance of saving that. A goal which PSG deserved after their strong start to this second half.
67' GOAL! Arsenal 2-1 PSG (Lacazette)
GOOOAAALLL! ARSENAL LEAD 2-1. Lacazette finally manages to get involved in the game after coming on at half-time.
It was a superb cross into the box by Smith Rowe and Lacazette got ahead of his marker, just flicking the ball past Buffon and into the back of the net.
71' GOAL! Arsenal 3-1 PSG (Lacazette)
ANOTHER ARSENAL GOAL! It's now 3-1 to the Gunners.
Lacazette is taking the praise from his teammates, but it was a scrappy goal and perhaps the final touch came from Nketiah instead.
A deep free-kick is headed back across the box and then flicked on by Holding towards Lacazette, who heads towards the far post. The ball hits the post and appears to cross the line just before Nketiah turns it in.
87' GOAL! Arsenal 4-1 PSG (Holding)
GOOOAAALLL! ARSENAL LEAD 4-1! A superb header from Holding.
He's picked out from a corner by Nelson but is going backwards when he heads it. However, he still manages to get the power and direction to send it towards goals, looping past Cibois and into the top corner.
94' GOAL! Arsenal 5-1 PSG (Nketiah)
IT'S FIVE! Arsenal have another goal and this time it comes from Nketiah, who was played through on goal and he fires a low shot into the bottom corner.
Match Report
Mesut Ozil scored on his return to the Arsenal starting XI in an emphatic 5-1 International Champions Cup win over an unfamiliar Paris Saint-Germain side, while Alexandre Lacazette netted a brace.
Ozil, who captained the Gunners, has had a difficult couple of months that culminated in him retiring from international football last week after growing tired of perceived mistreatment from the German Football Federation (DFB).
That saga stemmed from a pre-World Cup meeting with controversial Turkey president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but he returned to Arsenal action in successful fashion on Saturday.
Arsenal were dominant for much of the first period, a spell which essentially began with Ozil's 13th-minute opener at the end of a fine move.
A host of chances went begging thereafter, as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan squandered the best opportunities, and PSG briefly made them pay for their profligacy.
Timothy Weah was the inspiration, winning a penalty from Sead Kolasinac, and Christopher Nkunku converted in the 60th minute.
But the Gunners stepped things up again towards the end – Lacazette, who was brought on for Iwobi at the break, scoring twice in quick succession from close range, before Rob Holding and Eddie Nketiah wrapped up an impressive win over coach Unai Emery's former team.
Line-ups
Arsenal XI: Mesut Özil, Sokratis, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Shkodran Mustafi, Bernd Leno, Mohamed Elneny, Sead Kolasinac, Héctor Bellerín, Alex Iwobi, Matteo Guendouzi
Subs: Petr Cech, Aaron Ramsey, Alexandre Lacazette, Emiliano Martínez, Lucas Pérez, Calum Chambers, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Rob Holding, Reiss Nelson, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Emile Smith-Rowe, J. Willock, Eddie Nketiah, Jordi Osei-Tutu
PSG XI: Gianluigi Buffon, L. Diarra, Kevin Rimane, Adrien Rabiot, Alec Georgen, Christopher Nkunku, Stanley N'Soki, Antoine Bernede, T. Weah, L. Mbe Soh, A. Toufiqui
Subs: Kevin Trapp, Jean-Christophe Bahebeck, Sebastien Cibois, Giovani Lo Celso, M. Sissako, A. Zagre, A. Fressange, V. Postolachi
How will you rate Arsenal & PSG's performance today?