Ousmane Dembele and Mikel Arteta (Photo by Alex Grimm, Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
PSG’s 5-4 win over Bayern Munich on Tuesday night was one of the season’s most entertaining end-of-year games.
But is it, as you think so many social networks, spell bad news for Arsenal in the Champions League? I’m not so sure.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a joy to watch top attacking players perform like this – Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Desire Doue on one side, and Michael Olise and Luis Diaz on the other side is as good as anything in world football right now.
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But those quick to criticize the Premier League, and Arsenal in particular, for moving from this style of football to the more tactical and defensive style that has dominated England this season, would do well to ignore the other important things at play here.
Why PSG and Bayern look so much better than the Premier League sides
Free-flowing attacking football is Arsenal’s luxury and other Premier League teams cannot afford it. Even Manchester City haven’t played their old self for much of this season, and found Championship side Southampton in the FA Cup semi-finals a tougher opponent than PSG or Bayern in most of their home games.
Bayern have already won the Bundesliga, as they have done for many seasons without opposition, and PSG will once again come out on top in Ligue 1 this term, as you would expect from two clubs whose salaries exceed what their so-called competition in these leagues can use.
In that context, it’s no surprise that Luis Enrique and Vincent Kompany can focus on the kind of freedom and expression we all want to see from the Premier League’s most attacking players, but there’s no need for control and discipline when your nearest rivals are almost as good as mid-table sides like Brentford.
Case-in-point: Arsenal beat Bayern 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium in the league stage of the competition earlier this season and Harry Kane didn’t have a single shot. It’s not so easy when you’re not playing against the likes of Hamburg and St Pauli, is it, Harry?
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Where is the protection?
“Five-four is a hockey point, not a football point,” said Jose Mourinho back in 2004 after a crazy North London Derby. “In a three-on-three practice game, if the score reaches 5-4 I send the players back to the locker room because they are not defending themselves properly. So to get such a result in an 11-on-11 game is a shame.”
So, let’s be real, if Bayern or PSG defend like this against Arsenal in the Champions League final, then the Gunners go in with a big shout.
Don’t get mad at me yet – I’m not saying it’s a guaranteed win for Arsenal, and it wouldn’t be wise to make them default favorites against Atletico Madrid.
But don’t let a very exciting game cloud your judgment – these are good players, yes, but they are still allowed to look better than they are because they are not tested week in, week out in the way the best players in the Premier League are. And Arsenal have already shown they can shut them down if their defense is at its best.
Rather than being a warning for Arsenal against Atletico Madrid, this game tonight shows that there is a final that can be completely won by Mikel Arteta’s side. Arguably the toughest test yet could be faced by defensive-minded Diego Simeone in Madrid tomorrow night.
