Mikel Arteta and Luis Enrique do battle in the Champions League Final - but how do the teams stack up?
Mikel Arteta and Luis Enrique do battle in the Champions League Final - but how do the teams stack up?
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The showdown is between two European heavyweights. And tactics, formations and the starting XIs are certain to play a part in who comes out on top in the Champions League final in Budapest.
In the red corner are the unbeaten challengers. Arsenal have yet to lose a game in the competition this season but Mikel Arteta ’s men face the ultimate test on Saturday.
In the blue corner are the reigning champions and arguably the best team in the world right now which is why they surely enter the contest as favourites. They blew Inter Milan away in last season’s final with their fast, free-flowing football which was led by Ballon D’Or winner Ousmane Dembele.
This will be a clash of styles. Attack versus defence. Plus some selection dilemmas and injury doubts. Will PSG risk Achraf Hakimi? Can Arsenal really start Jurrien Timber for his first game in more than two months? It could be teenager Myles Lewis-Skelly in midfield ahead of Spain international Martin Zubimendi.
Here, we look at who might start - and who might come out on top as the European giants go head-to-head.
PSG (4-3-3)
A superstar up front. He will be fit and he is lightning, direct and Arsenal need to stop him at all costs. Ballon D’Or winner.
A glittering career as a player was followed by huge success with Barcelona as a manager and that puts him on a different level.
With PSG, he has built arguably the best European club team since Barcelona’s team of Messi, Iniesta, Xavi and Co. They are brilliantly exciting and were so clearly the best club team in the world last year.
Arsenal (4-3-3)
He has scored the winner in a Champions League final and may get the nod over Viktor Gyokeres who probably gets the role as “finisher.”
A great tactician, he is aspiring to become the next Enrique in managerial terms and therefore must start as the underdog in this toe-to-toe.
Arteta is clearly more pragmatic but now has this incredible opportunity to become one of the great managers of this era. That is why he is so close to Enrique - but is the manager-in-waiting.
TOTALS
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