PSG/Arsenal – Madueke opens hostilities…with a huge blunder | OneFootball

Just a few days before the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal right winger Noni Madueke, 24, turned up the heat. According to comments reported by The Touchline, the England international described the Gunners as the best attacking and defensive team in the competition, a claim far from being backed up by the numbers available before the final.

Madueke: “We’re also one of the best attacking teams in the Champions League, aren’t we?”

Noni Madueke’s remarks have all the feel of a line meant to spark things ahead of PSG/Arsenal. Defensively, Arsenal can rely on a solid argument: the Gunners have conceded only 6 goals in the Champions League before the final, compared with 22 for Paris Saint-Germain. But the claim becomes much more shaky when it comes to attack.

The same data puts Paris clearly ahead, with 44 goals scored compared with Arsenal’s 29. Arsenal was ahead at the end of the league phase, but has slowed down since then. In other words, Madueke is right to highlight London’s solidity, but much less so when he claims attacking superiority. This little provocation fits the pre-match buildup perfectly: Arsenal wants to assert its status, apply pressure, and push the idea of a complete all-around side. Except against PSG, the numbers do not tell quite the same story.

This statement could also work in Paris’s favor. By trying to present Arsenal as the complete team, Madueke gives PSG a simple psychological angle: respond on the pitch, where Luis Enrique’s side has already shown it can strike hard offensively, without being reduced to the caricature of a team focused only on attack.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.