Edinson Cavani 'takes responsibility' for Arsenal draw despite praise from Arsene Wenger and Unai Emery

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James Benge14 September 2016

Edinson Cavani has accepted that he must “take responsibility” for Paris St Germain’s failure to kill off Arsenal after their Champions League tie ended 1-1.

Despite opening the scoring after just 42 seconds, heading home a fine cross from Serge Aurier, Cavani endured a disastrous night at the Parc des Princes, wasting a host of chances before and after the Alexis Sanchez equaliser that put Arsenal in Group A’s driving seat.

Tasked with filling the hole left by Zlatan Ibrahimovic Cavani, a target for Arsene Wenger in the summer of 2015, struggled to find a way past the impressive David Ospina and admitted it was down to him that PSG had not been more than a goal to the good when the visitors rallied.

“I think we deserved better tonight, so the feeling in the changing room is a bit negative,” Cavani said.

“We had chances but we didn’t win. I take responsibility for that because I only scored the one goal and those two points we dropped will be important at the end of the competition.”

It was not an assessment that Wenger agreed with. Despite missing an open goal in the first half and being foiled by Ospina in the second Cavani put in an impressive display, according to the Arsenal manager.

“I think Cavani was good tonight if I’m honest,” Wenger said. “I think he was very effective in terms of his pressing.”

Cavani also received plenty of support from his own manager, Unai Emery, whose Champions League debut with PSG was not the winning start that the club’s Qatari owners desired. They had sacked Laurent Blanc in the summer to bring in the Spaniard, tasking him with guiding the French champions to victory in Europe’s premier club competition after three straight Europa League triumphs with Sevilla.

Emery insisted that he had been impressed by his side’s performance even as they failed to convert a host of chances and backed Cavani to prove himself a worthy replacement for Ibrahimovic.

“I’m not happy with the result, but I’m happy with the way we played,” Emery said. “We created seven clear-cut chances.

“Cavani? I have every confidence in him. He creates a lot of chances and we will win with him.”

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