Arsenal before the legendary temple
All mockery and ridicule disappeared after Arsenal won the Premier League title. They will advance to the final in Hungary with the mindset of the reigning Premier League champions. If The Gunners cannot win the championship last season, they will carry a very heavy mentality to face PSG.
In this season's Champions League, Arsenal is having an absolute unbeaten record on the journey to the final. In particular, they have kept a clean sheet in 9/14 matches. The defensive trio David Raya - Gabriel - William Saliba is rated no less than PSG's attacking trio Kvicha Kvaratskhelia - Ousmane Dembele - Desire Doue.
The special point is that in the journey in the qualifying round, they did not concede any goals from the opponent's opening balls. 3/4 of the goals conceded in the qualifying round came in the last 2 matches when the ticket to play in the round of 16 was firmly in the hands of Mikel Arteta's team.
The defense will be Arsenal's strongest point to face PSG. They have many physically fit players, good one-on-one tackles and especially play aerial duels very well. Proof is that before the final, Arsenal only conceded 6 times. In the Premier League, they are also the team that conceded the least with only 27 times/38 rounds last season.
There is a lot of comparison about Arsenal's two most recent generations of Premier League champions. In the 2003-2004 season, they were crowned champions with an unbeaten record but only reached the Champions League quarter-finals. However, this season, they have gone much further.
In the last 3 seasons, Arsenal's performance has gradually improved in a ascending style in the Champions League. From the quarter-finals, semi-finals and now the final, every season Arsenal goes deeper and reaches the final stage. If they are the champions, all negative opinions will be aimed at and Mikel Arteta will completely disappear. Many people think that Arteta is turning Arsenal into a "ugly" playing team, but if they win both the Premier League and the Champions League, no one can find a reason to criticize them anymore.
This victory, in addition to bringing home the first European championship title in Arsenal's history, will help a series of team stars become true "World Class". Mikel Arteta will be "on the same table" with other legends on the coaching bench, while stars like Declan Rice, Gabriel, William Saliba,... will become the most highly rated players in their positions.
Defeating the reigning European champions will be a way to enter history that could not be more glorious for Arsenal.
PSG wants to prove absolute class
In Champions League/C1 history, there are teams that have won once and cannot find their glory many decades later. PSG is very strong and they are aiming for the goal of being the 2nd team in Champions League history to successfully defend the title, after Real Madrid in the previous decade.
Luis Enrique not only helped PSG win the Champions League title for the first time in history, he also turned the Paris capital team, France into the most watchable team in the world at the present time. Many stars after being shaped by Enrique have reached world-class level. Watching PSG play football at this time, true fans enjoy it, like what Barcelona did in the period 2008 - 2012 under Pep Guardiola.
Before this final, 8 teams in C1/Champions League history have successfully defended their titles, especially Real Madrid with a record of 3 consecutive championships (2016 - 2018). The 71-year history of the league only has 8 teams successfully defended the throne and PSG wants to become the 9th club.
Last season, PSG surprised everyone, not because they beat Inter in the final, it was a destructive score of 5-0 against the Serie A representative. This time, Dembele's opponent and his teammates are considered stronger, but PSG is still considered to have an advantage. Arsenal has climbed the ladder for 3 seasons to reach the final. If PSG wins this time, that result is also like a climb of the Enrique team when they will defeat a stronger team Inter last year.
As for Luis Enrique personally, he is facing the opportunity to raise the Champions League title for the 3rd time in his career, after 2015 and 2025. Only 4 legends have won 3 or more Champions League titles in their careers: Pep Guardiola, Zinedine Zidane, Bob Paisley and Carlo Ancelotti.
