PSG for the second time in a row or Arsenal for the first time? This is the last puzzle of the 71st Champions Cup final or the 34th season of the Champions League. In the last act of a colorful and exciting season in the strongest club competition in the world in Budapest at the beautiful Puskas Arena, the de facto champions, the French and defending champions and the champion of the strongest league in the world – the Premier League. The winner will write history, PSG would become the first team after Real Madrid to defend the title, Arsenal would be the seventh English club – after Liverpool (six-time champion), Manchester United (3), Chelsea, Nottingham Forest (both 2), Aston Villa and Manchester City – to be on the list of winners. Arsenal’s celebration would make it a treble of English triumphs this season, after Aston Villa won the Europa League and Crystal Palace won the Conference.
Bet on your favorite in foreign football leagues. The content is made possible by E-bets. The link leads to the website of the advertiser that offers sports betting.
Parisians and Londoners deservedly qualified for the grand final. The defending champions confirmed this in the knockout stage of the competition, challengers throughout the season, as they did not lose a single game. Arsenal finished the league part with a 100% profit, winning three times and drawing three times in the elimination matches. As in last season, the Parisians fluctuated in the league, won 11th place and played two more games. But when it really got down to it, they were spectacular and unbeatable, knocking out Monaco and three former European champions, Chelsea, Liverpool and, in the “final before the final”, Bayern.
Luis Enrique, the coach of PSG, was forging a plan for today’s spectacle at the last training session in Budapest. PHOTO: Franck Fife/AFP
Coaching duel of the Spaniards
PSG and Arsenal are great but very different. The difference was created by both coaches, the Spanish, the Parisian Luis Enrique and London Mikel Arteta. It connects the two Pep Guardiolapredicted great coaching careers for both, the former succeeded Guardiola at Barcelona, the latter was his student at Manchester City.
Innovation and determination in following his ideas is Enriqe’s common thread, which took PSG to the top of Europe. Enrique also looked for holes this season through countless short passes, while Mikel Arteta bet on the defensive wall and opportunism. But the final winner will be determined by small tactical peculiarities, hidden at first glance.
Many experts are wondering what Enrique will come up with this time? This season, despite the fact that he has the most technically accomplished team at his disposal, Enrique contrived that the first pass at the start of a match or half-time is deliberately kicked out of the field deep into the opponent’s half. The goal is clear: to push the team high up the pitch, squeeze the opponents to the sideline and win the ball out of the box in the first 30 seconds with immediate aggressive pressure.
The goalkeeper uses similar extreme tactics Matvej Safonov made a save in the semi-final against Bayern when he deliberately sent the ball out of play to the side where the dangerous player was playing Michael Olisewhich condensed the space around the main player and disabled him. The question is whether he will try to neutralize the same Bukaya Sakowho plays in the same playing position as Olise.
Mikel Arteta is deciding with whom in attack he will enforce the rhythm of the game according to the London tactics. Swede Viktor Gyökeres destroyed Atletico’s defense in the semi-final with his raw power, aggression and running into empty space, dragging opposition defenders out of their comfort zone. German Kai Havertzwho has already tasted the championship flavor of LP when he won Chelsea’s second title five years ago, offers technical and more sophisticated solutions. He is better at keeping the ball in a small space, more accurate in combinatorics and crucial in putting pressure on the opponent’s back line.
This is how Declan Rice was looking forward to Arsenal’s domestic laurels a few days ago, now he dreams of winning the Champions League final. PHOTO: Hannah Mckay/Reuters
A money machine with excellent individuals
Paris’ most powerful weapon is represented by the most coordinated, technically polished and running optimal federal line, which is perfectly enhanced by creative attackers, one more unfavorable, dangerous and unpredictable than the other: the “golden ball” Ousmane Dembeleone of the favorites for this year’s most prestigious individual Georgian award Kvarachelia shouts or only 20 years old Desire Doue.
The Londoners have become a solid competitive team, which also became victorious in the key part of the season, even if it does not have a particularly outstanding footballer. Maybe it’s just an English star Declan Ricea leader on the field and in the locker room. Arteta, who will certainly not accept an “open front” in which he would risk a crash like the Italian Inter experienced last year in the final (they lost 0:5), only the right defensive side causes headaches. Both defenders are injured, the first Jurriën Timber could be on the bench, his replacement Ben White is the car Arteta will be forced to improvise and hope that Kvarachelia with help Nun of Menedes he will not have his evening again. The right side of Paris will also be the best, as the Parisians predicted. Excellent Achraf Hakimi will probably be ready for the most important club match of the season.
PHOTO: ZX/IGD
