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Will PSG-Arsenal be a chess match or a track meet?
The chances of a high-scoring Champions League final took a massive hit when Arsenal won their semi-final on Tuesday, and a day later they were nearly completely snuffed out with Paris Saint-Germain's defensive master class in Munich.
PSG held Bayern Munich to a 1-1 draw on Wednesday, earning a 6-5 aggregate victory to move on their second straight final.
It was a complete 180 from the scene we saw last week, when the rulers of Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga combined to give us an all-time classic. The nine-goal thriller set the stage for a second-leg showdown that many hoped would be a carbon copy of that barnburner in Paris, but instead PSG flipped the script and frustrated Bayern to a degree rarely seen.
At the Allianz Arena, where Bayern reigns supreme, the Parisians stifled the hosts despite giving up 62% of the possession. A third-minute Ousmane Dembélé goal led to 87 minutes of near-perfect execution from the visitors, with PSG showing a level of pragmatism that was absent in last week's first leg.
Yes, Harry Kane got his goal. But it came far too late to influence the match, as his spin-and-strike in the fourth minute of stoppage time served as a consolation prize rather than cause for celebration.
Adam Pretty/Getty Images
And now PSG will face Arsenal at the end of the month, with the North Londoners having made their reputation on defensive solidity, set pieces and doing whatever it takes to get the result.
It may be a tad unfair to Mikel Arteta's men to be defined by their solidity at the back — they've scored 29 goals in 14 Champions League games during this campaign, with three goals or more in six of those matches. But Arsenal are what they are, and free-flowing football is not one of the characteristics attached to this version of the Gunners.
As such, the May 30 final in Budapest could be shaping up to be a chess match rather than the track meets that have defined much of PSG's past two seasons.
Consider that these teams met in the semi-finals of the same competition last season, with mostly the same squads that they have today. Those two games resulted in a pair of victories for the Parisians: 1-0 in London and 2-1 at the Parcs des Princes.
Despite the firepower of Dembélé, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Désiré Doué, PSG did not run away with either match — neither literally nor figuratively. Instead, Enrique's side did what it took to get past arguably the most stubborn team in all of Europe, moving on to the final where, unshackled after two intense battles with the North London club, they rolled to a five-goal victory over Inter Milan.
Now, PSG and Arsenal reconvene on an even bigger stage, with a trophy on the line and an extra year of experience under their respective belts. The Gunners have only gotten sturdier in the days since, and PSG's savviness has been polished and refined by a full season of being the hunted rather than the hunters.
All signs point to a classic in Budapest, but only for fans of football played on a knife's edge.
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