'Arsenal 100% the best team in competition'- Arteta

Mikel Arteta says Arsenal were the best team in the Champions League this season, despite losing their semi-final to Paris St-Germain.

The Gunners came into the Parc des Princes needing to overturn a 1-0 loss from the home first leg to book a place in the final against Inter Milan.

But while Arsenal created a number of good opportunities, they could not find a way past PSG keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma until Bukayo Saka's late strike.

By then, goals from Fabian Ruiz and Achraf Hakimi had put the French champions on their way to a 2-1 second-leg success, and 3-1 on aggregate.

"We were very close, much closer than the result showed, but unfortunately, we are out," said Arteta in a BBC interview.

"I am very proud of the players, 100%. I don't think there's been a better team [than Arsenal] in the competition from what I have seen, but we are out. This competition is about the boxes, and in both boxes are the strikers and the goalkeepers, and theirs was the best in both games."

Having failed to reach a first Champions League final since 2006, the Arsenal boss revealed his players were in tears in the dressing room following the loss - and he was "upset and so annoyed" they did not find a way to turn around the tie.

Asked whether he agreed with Arteta, PSG boss Luis Enrique said his own side deserved to reach the final.

"Mikel Arteta is a great friend, but I don't agree at all," he added.

"They played in a clever way, and they got the match to the right moment for them because they played in the way they wanted, and the way they love.  But in the two legs we scored more than them, and that is the most important thing in football."