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Destination Budapest, where Paris Saint-Germain will attempt to be the first club apart from Real Madrid to win two consecutive European Cups since Milan in 1990. Vincent Kompany’s promise of “more” from Bayern Munich after a nine-goal first leg did not materialise. PSG offered a different proposition in Wednesday’s second leg; they put on a performance of defensive discipline, with their attacking players committed to closing down their opponents. Luis Enrique’s team never allowed the tie to spin from their control even if there were 33 shots in Munich compared to 22 in Paris.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia plays like an old-style winger, and set up Ousmane Dembélé’s goal, but he is also thoroughly modern in the way he presses hard and high. Bayern found space at a premium until Harry Kane’s late goal. Luis Enrique’s team is much the same as last season’s, sticking to the same formula. They are a year older but still flush with youth. The PSG project took many years and billions of euros to hit pay dirt but is now delivering the success that was dreamed of after the Qatari takeover in 2011.
Arsenal’s Champions League progress has followed a straight line. In the last three seasons, Arsenal’s sequence reads quarter-final, semi-final and now final. If they beat PSG and get three more wins in the Premier League, they will complete the most glorious May in club history. It has been a grind of a campaign, with wobbles along the way, but by trusting his process, Arteta’s determination – which sometimes borders on stubbornness – has so far paid off. “You have to give this man a lot of credit because he came under a lot of criticism,” said Thierry Henry, Arsenal’s captain when the Gunners reached the 2006 final. “I was in that too, I will be honest, for a very long time.”
Related: Kvaratskhelia is perfect attacking scalpel for PSG’s surgical brilliance. Arsenal, beware | Barney Ronay
Europe’s best club teams have usually had a backbone of local, homegrown talent; think Barcelona’s La Masia graduates, Manchester United’s Class of ’92, Ajax of the 1970s and 1990s, Milan in the late 1980s. A globalisation of the transfer market has reduced many young players’ opportunities of progress, but to fans there will always be something special about homegrown players, and Bukayo Saka scoring the deciding goal against Atlético Madrid for Arsenal perfectly fit that template.
His teammate Myles Lewis-Skelly has had to wait his turn. He broke through last season as a left-back but his education came as a central midfield player. Dropping from prominence is likely to cost him a spot at full-back in this summer’s World Cup but Thomas Tuchel may now turn to Lewis-Skelly’s versatility. Arteta has been depicted as too risk-averse but selecting a 19-year-old in a Champions League semi-final bucked that idea. Lewis-Skelly, previously a victim of tough love from his manager, dovetailed with Declan Rice to lock down Atlético and command the central areas. Arteta is not afraid to blood youth – he has also shown faith in 16-year-old Max Dowman who was on the bench on Tuesday. Against Atlético, Lewis-Skelly was chosen in place of Martin Zubimendi, an expensive summer signing who has lost form. Lewis-Skelly is now in line to play part in his club’s biggest match in two decades, with Saka fresh after an injury-hit season.
Player of the week
Marquinhos has been at PSG since 2013, when he joined the club as a teenager. Previously the junior partner to Thiago Silva, Marquinhos embodied the defensive effort in Munich, blunting the threat of Kane, Michael Olise and Luis Díaz with his organisation. Willian Pacho acted as able lieutenant while Warren Zaïre-Emery was nursed through as a stand-in right back. “Tonight we showed that we also know how to defend, how to battle like crazy,” Marquinhos said after the match.
They said it
“We have to look at some of the phases that were decided by the officials across the two games which … It’s never an excuse for everything but it matters. If we look at both legs probably too much went against us” – Kompany and Bayern were not happy with the refereeing across their semi-final. Two handball calls were crucial, Nuno Mendes escaped a second yellow card and João Neves clearly handled in his own box. The second was ruled out because handball is not handball when a ball is played by a teammate. Who knew?
The pundit’s chair
“If I was running down the side, I’d make sure I actually topped him. I’d tackle the ball and tackle him at the same time” – Former Arsenal player Stewart Robson serves a piping-hot take on Arteta’s touchline antics after ESPN host Dan Thomas asks: “At what stage, as the opposition coach, do you want to punch Arteta in the face? How much does that annoy you?”
Looking ahead
PSG toughing out Bayern on Wednesday gives the lie to the idea that the final will be a meeting of English grit against a Gallic tout pour l’attaque. Both managers seek control in different forms. There are, though, echoes of the 2006 final for Arsenal, when they faced a free-flowing Barcelona team of talents, led by Ronaldinho, the Dembélé of his day. Gunners fans grimace when recalling Jens Lehmann’s early red card, and the crucial role played by Barcelona supersubs Henrik Larsson and Juliano Belletti.
Budapest will hold the fourth final between clubs from European capital cities after Benfica v Real Madrid in 1962, Real Madrid v Partizan Belgrade in 1966 and Ajax v Panathinaikos in 1971. Arsenal can right the myriad wrongs that have haunted them. London’s biggest club in historic terms have had to watch on as arriviste Chelsea collected the Champions League twice. The competition was an annual disappointment in the Arsène Wenger years. Revenge is in the air, too. Last season it was PSG who knocked out Arsenal in the semi-finals.
