FEATURE | How PSG can beat Arsenal in the Champions League final | OneFootball

Ligue 1 champions PSG face Premier League champions Arsenal in tonight’s Champions League final in Budapest. Whatever the outcome in Budapest’s Puskas Arena, history will be written. If PSG don’t join the greatest European teams ever by retaining their European title, the Champions League will crown its 25th winners in Mikel Arteta’s Gunners.

History aside, the 2026 Champions League final will prove a fascinating battle between what are arguably the two best teams this season, in their own ways. Luis Enrique’s PSG are the most entertaining possession-based football team in Europe, whereas Arteta’s Arsenal are widely recognized as the best team in the world when out of possession.

The Premier League winners have conceded the fewest goals (6) in this Champions League campaign, in which – unlike PSG – they are unbeaten. Here’s how PSG can exploit Arsenal’s very few weaknesses in the Champions League final:

Unleashing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia

PSG left-winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has made Champions League history in the semi-finals’ return leg against Bayern Munich. In assisting Ousmane Dembélé, the Georgian became the first player ever to register a goal contribution in seven knockout games on the bounce. Could he make it eight tonight?

Kvaratskhelia – whose ball-carrying and dribbling prowess is second-to-none for a left-winger this season – is poised to go head-to-head with Arsenal’s Jurriën Timber tonight. The Netherlands international’s return from injury is obviously welcome news for Mikel Arteta. But Timber hasn’t featured since March, which raises doubts about his ability to play 90+ minutes at the highest level right about now.

Should Timber throw in the towel, Arteta is likely to summon Cristhian Mosquera, but, unlike the injured Ben White, the Spaniard is not a right-back at heart. Could Arsenal’s frail right defensive flank decide the Champions League final when opposed to the best left-winger in the world?

Bypassing Arsenal’s midfield press

Continuous on-pitch rotations have been Luis Enrique’s blueprint to reach consecutive Champions League finals. By pushing the limits of positional fluidity, PSG are arguably the most entertaining football team there is to watch this season, as shown by their gung-ho 5-4 home win over Bayern Munich in the semi-finals.

Arsenal will represent a very different kind of challenge. Last season, at the same semi-final stage of the competition, the Gunners favored an aggressive high press. Breaking it down will require PSG to create overloads with Ousmane Dembélé expected to drop deep, as he often does, to give Vitinha, Fabian Ruiz and João Neves a hand.

Should the Ballon d’Or winner manage to pull his marker out of position, PSG will have opportunities to break the Gunners’ first line of defense with the kind of swift counter-attacking transitions they have been hitting Europe’s best clubs with, courtesy of their wide men’s pace.

Not conceding cheap set-pieces

It would be simplistic to reduce Arsenal’s goal threat to their rather extraordinary ability to score from set-pieces, but it doesn’t mean that Les Parisiens should not apply maximum caution in not giving away cheap fouls and corner kicks.

Because Arsenal have mastered the arts of goalkeeper interference, blind-side blocking and, most of all, dead-ball deliveries, Willian Pacho’s aerial presence will be hugely useful against Arsenal’s towering centre-backs. And Matvey Safonov will have to command his penalty box with minimum fuss and high efficiency.

Arsenal’s commitment to attacking corners with maximum bodies forward can leave them vulnerable to the speed of PSG’s fullbacks, but the safest bet would be not to concede them in the first place. Fortunately for PSG, the Ligue 1 champions have in Pacho and Marquinhos one of the most disciplined backlines in the world. The Ecuador international is yet to receive a yellow card since December.

GFFN | Bastien Cheval