Riccardo Calafiori celebrates with his Arsenal teammates (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has hinted that Riccardo Calafiori is looking likely to be back in time for the Champions League semi-final tie vs Paris Saint-Germain.
The Gunners enjoyed a memorable win over Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, triumphing 5-1 on aggregate against the reigning European champions.
PSG are up next for Arsenal and could be a tougher test as they’re in superb form at the moment, so it would be useful to have a key player like Calafiori back.
The Italy international is a versatile defender who can give Arteta options at centre-back or left-back, so he could still have an important role to play this season.
Discussing his comeback from injury, Arteta had this to say, as per journalist Simon Collings…
Arteta: “If everything goes well, I think so – maybe a little bit earlier. Let’s see. He is on the pitch already. He is doing quite a lot of stuff and we just need to make the right steps now to make sure when he is back, he is in a good place to perform.”
— Simon Collings (@sr_collings) April 18, 2025
“If everything goes well, I think so – maybe a little bit earlier. Let’s see,” Arteta said when asked about Calafiori being back for PSG.
“He is on the pitch already. He is doing quite a lot of stuff and we just need to make the right steps now to make sure when he is back, he is in a good place to perform.”
Can Arsenal go all the way in the Champions League?
It’s been a difficult and frustrating season for Arsenal in the Premier League, with injuries majorly disrupting their progress.
Liverpool, by contrast, have not really had to make do without any of their most important players for a particularly lengthy period at any point, apart from Trent Alexander-Arnold recently.
Arsenal currently have Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Magalhaes out, while Bukayo Saka missed a large chunk of the campaign, and others like Calafiori and Ben White have also spent plenty of time on the sidelines.
If Arsenal’s luck can start to turn towards the end of the campaign, then they could have it in them to finally win the Champions League.
The north London giants were superb in both legs against Real Madrid, even with midfielder Mikel Merino being shoe-horned into playing up front, and with Jakub Kiwior filling in for Gabriel in defence.
AFC will hope not to lose anyone else in the weeks ahead, and Calafiori’s return could certainly be useful for a tough opponent like PSG.
