If we look at the history of European Champions League – and its previous incarnation, European Cup – winners, the near-tautological observation that stands out in its inevitable irrefutability is that it’s almost always a great club squad making their genuine superiority count against other good-to-great teams. The 85-86 win of Steaua București (or FCSB, as they are known today) – the first club from the then so-called “Eastern Bloc” to win the premier European club championship – or the 2003-04 (this one still hurts!) victory of FC Porto are some of the rare exceptions. Seeing through that lens, absence of some of the great Arsenal squads of the past from the list of winners paints a picture of missed opportunities, misfortunes, and – let us be honest – underachievements.
Our fourteen English league titles have never translated into European glory in the years those championships were won, or in the seasons that immediately followed them. When Herbert Chapman’s magnificent side dominated English football in the early 1930s, winning the First Division in 1930–31, 1932–33, 1933–34 and 1934–35, the European Cup did not yet exist — a reminder to the naysayers that one of the greatest club sides that the world football has ever produced was denied the continental stage it so richly deserved. By the time Arsenal won their first post-war titles — the First Division in 1947–48 and again in 1952–53 — the European Cup had only just been conceived, and Arsenal, like most English clubs of that era, regarded continental competition with indifference. Then came 1970–71 and Bertie Mee’s Double-winning side: their first-ever European Cup campaign in 1971–72 saw them reach the quarter-finals before falling to the great Ajax side (and the eventual champions) of Johan Cruyff, losing 2–1 away and 0–1 at home thanks to a George Graham own goal — defeated, but not disgraced, against the finest club team on the planet. The 1988–89 and 1990–91 title wins under George Graham brought a particular cruelty: the Heysel Stadium disaster ban on English clubs meant Arsenal were barred from the European Cup in 1989–90 despite being champions, and when they finally did enter in 1991–92 as the reigning title holders, they went out in the second round to Benfica. Arsène Wenger’s breathtaking bands of iron-fist-in-a-velvelt-glove teams in all their glorious iterations in those early years – especially the magnificent Invincibles – heighten that sense of historical disappointment even more acutely. Arsenal secured their maiden UEFA Champions League berth after winning the Premier League title in 1997–98, yet that first foray ended in group stage elimination, with Arsenal left to rue late equalisers as they finished third on the head-to-head rule. The 2001–02 title brought further disappointment in Europe’s top club competition, with Arsenal eliminated at the second group stage, and the Invincibles of 2003–04 reached only the quarter-finals, before a season without a league title produced Arsenal’s finest European hour — a run to the 2005–06 Champions League final, only to lose to Barcelona after Jens Lehmann’s early red card.
But the past is a foreign country, as it has often been said, sung and written. The Arsenal squad that will take the field this Saturday evening in the Hungarian capital – both the “starters” and the “finishers”, to follow Mikel Arteta’s ingeniously inclusive coinage – will only be focused on the immediacy of their task ahead, confident in their abilities and preparation, and while appropriately respectful to a supremely talented and well-coached opposition, not at all overawed. They would know that they can create a singularly defining moment in our great club’s history, but I am sure they will see that as a promise to live up to, and not as a burden to be carried.
For all the incessant negativity, criticisms, vitriol, derision, attacks that they have been subjected to – not only by the inmates of the virtual asylum otherwise known as social media, but also by prominent figures in the sport (whether ex-players or journalists) who should really have behaved better – their core value system remained unshaken, and this most emphatic of Premier League wins would only have strengthened their self-belief, and at the same time, one hopes, would encourage just that soupçon of relaxed confidence that is an essential ingredient in the alchemy of all great sporting achievements. The players would need that bit of psychological space to express their individuality to make the decisive moments, especially in the decisive moments in the opposition final third. Especially when that opposition is PSG.
PSG – Paris Saint-Germain FC – is the defending European champions, a team full of generational talents, managed by an ambitious, experienced and tactically multifaceted Luis Enrique. According to some, the current PSG team is so far ahead of Arsenal in the footballing capacity that the result of this final might very well be a foregone conclusion.
There is a Mullah Nasreddin story that may be apt while talking about PSG. A friend of Nasreddin had come to visit him. This friend had fallen on hard times and was wearing very ordinary clothes that Nasreddin found beneath the stature of any friend of his, especially as he needed to introduce the friend to his neighbors. Thankfully this friend was similar to him in height and build, and he very generously gave him his most expensive and dazzling jacket to wear. And then they went for a mini tour of the neighborhood. Nasreddin knocked on the doors of his nearest neighbor, and after the doors were opened for him, he did the introduction: “This is my very close friend visiting me, and the jacket he is wearing is mine.” After the pleasantries when they walked out of the house, his friend expressed his displeasure with such an unusual form of introduction: “Must you tell your neighbors about your generosity?”. Nasreddin acknowledged his mistake and introduced his friend to the next neighbor differently: “This is my very close friend visiting me, the jacket he is wearing is definitely his own.” Another round of pleasantries, and back on the streets the friend this time didn’t hold back: “Come on! Why do you need to say anything about the jacket at all?” “Aha!”Nasreddin finally understood, “I got it, my friend, I got it.” Third neighbor, introductions, Nasreddin: “This is my very close friend visiting me, the less we talk about his jacket the better it is.”
If you are not a fan of this story, I will understand, and will say no more about it.
Arsenal and PSG are the respective champions of their leagues, deservedly so, and while there have been a lot of discussions about the differing styles of their football, their respective runs to the final may deserve some attention too.
Arsenal topped the league phase in this newly formatted Champions League – I must say I like this new format much more than the monotony of the previous group stages, and it is one of rare occasions where one of the governing bodies got something right – whereas PSG finished at 11th position. Consequently, Arsenal had a comparatively easier set of fixtures, with the added advantage of being at home in all the second leg matches, in the knock-out round. PSG – in a manner reminiscent of their last year’s run to success – steadily improved over the later stages of the tournament, culminating in a fantasy football performance of 5-4 win at home against the mighty Bayern Munich. The world took attention, and I read accolades that didn’t shy away from calling the match the greatest football match ever. It is a rather strange thing to say, but that is just my opinion, and it likely matters very little.
Arteta’s Arsenal have been making steady progress in the European arena, not too dissimilar to their character-building journey through the battles of the English domestic league. Quarter-finalists in the 23-24 edition, and semifinalists last year – losing out to the eventual champions who had been ruthlessly efficient in both boxes – we now find ourselves back at the most prestigious occasion in the European football calendar. Twenty years have gone by since that fateful evening in Paris, twenty years when the game itself has gone through transformations of Ovidian scale, and our beloved club had shed a few layers of skin to reemerge as the footballing force that its passionate worldwide fanbase have been waiting for. Some patiently, some not so, but none of that matters anymore as we all sense that we are witnessing the emergence of something special.
While a loss in Budapest this Saturday evening will not hinder that process, and it will be treated as one more opportunity to learn and grow, a win will bring in just rewards for a club that, while adapting with the times to stay competitive, has stayed true to its core values, and just rewards for a group of players, a manager and his team who have together built and cultivated a culture of excellence and unity that is surely a blueprint for sustained success.
Unlike most of the cognoscenti, I do not think we need to do anything extraordinarily special to win the final. We simply need to play our best, individually and collectively, and then (hopefully) enjoy the champion’s luck when the marginal moments go in our favor. That means, we play to our strengths: defensive solidity from the entire team, tactical and positional discipline, effective high press, courage on the ball, efficiency with our movement and passing, controlling the tempo of the match, ruthlessness from corners, and just that extra bit of unpredictability on the final third that we find within ourselves when we are playing at our best.
PSG will likely line up with a front three of Désiré Doué, Ousmane Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. While the French duo are established matchwinners on their days, the Georgian is likely now the best attacking player on the planet. Technically excellent, fast, full of guile, and all good finishers. However, if they are the finest attacking trio in club football, they will come against what is surely the best defensive duo in Saliba and Gabriel, backed by Premier league golden glove winner David Raya, and screened by the limitless engine of Declan Rice. Ably complemented by our fullbacks – even though we are likely to start with our third choice right back – and the entire team contributing defensively, if Arsenal maintains their defensive form and discipline, it can become the key difference maker by providing the perfect foundation.
In 14 matches from the league stages to the sem-finals, our record in the Champions League should offer the supporters a renewed faith: 14 games played, 11 wins, 3 draws, 29 goals scored, 6 conceded, 9 clean sheets. Going one level deeper – 81 attempts made on target, 40 attempts conceded on target, total 75 corners taken, overall passing accuracy is 86.5% with 189 passes into the penalty area (i.e., 13.5 per match), 54% average possession. This paints a picture of a team that is defensively robust, supremely comfortable off the ball, doesn’t need to overdominate possession to win matches, efficient enough in the final third but not one to create a lot of chances. In other words, exactly the team we all have been cheering on.
In terms of team selection, Kvaratskhelia is likely to cause the most discussion between Arteta and his staff. While a match fit Timber or in his absence a fit enough White would have been the natural choices, I am of the opinion that even if Timber is medically fit, which he apparently is and has traveled with the squad, given his rustiness he shouldn’t start. We just have to trust Mosquera – not a natural fullback, but an excellent defender who has grown in this team in his first year of English football – and feel confident that with Saliba, Gabriel and Rice to guide him, he will rise up to the occasion.
How about the midfield? Should Zubimendi be called back to the starting line-up given his experience and knowledge of European football? Or should Myles Lewis-Skelly keep his place after a string of most impressive performances?
My preference is for neither. With a midfield as front-footed as Vitinha- Neves-Zaïre-Emery, and fullbacks like Hakimi and Mendes who love to bomb forward at every opportunity, I would like to see Rice playing as a traditional number 6, screening the back four, and Ødegaard in the central midfield playing a mixed role of recycling possession, orchestrating passing movements, and release our frontline for fast counter attacks using long through passes. For the third midfielder position I would love to see Eze, who will bring in that element of unpredictability around the penalty box area to fashion chances, and can also interchange with Ødegaard to allow our captain to exert his influence on the final third.
My preferred front three would be Trossard-Gyökeres-Saka. While Havertz is naturally a better footballer, is excellent in the intricate build-up play, and not too inferior a finisher (not to forget goalscorer in a champions league final win) than the Swede, I think the blunt relentlessness of Gyökeres, his willingness to constantly occupy the two central defenders, and to run the channels will offer a more effective threat against PSG’s attack-minded approach with enough space opening up behind the fullbacks. Both his pressing and hold-up play have improved significantly in the last few months. Havertz coming on after the sixty or so minutes of Viktor would then give PSG a completely different problem to solve, forcing them to change their approach both in defense and midfield as Kai would seamlessly drop in to play as an extra midfielder.
But maybe that works better with Eze still on the field who can then interchange positions with Kai? If we are starting with Gyökeres, would it be better to have the box-to-box coverage of MLS and have Martin operate closer to our striker? Will we start with Calafiori and let him bring his attacking instincts or rely more on the defensive rigor of Hincapié?
This would be my preferred starting line-up, Mikel will surely have a better plan in mind.
Raya
Mosquera – Saliba – Gabriel – Calafiori
Ødegaard – Rice – Eze
Saka – Gyökeres – Trossard
With Kai, Martinelli, Madueke, Zubimendi, MLS, Hincapié, Jesus, Dowman providing a strong enough set of options from the bench to change the course of the match or to see out a result, as needed.
CER, 21st Century Gooner, Bath, and all the other ‘Holics luminaries traveling to Budapest, have a great time before, during, and after the match. Cheer the boys to the victory that they so richly deserve. And the rest of us will be cheering for them and for you all from wherever we all are in this global village.
But even if we don’t win, and even if we fail to play to our very best, and even if we end up reliving that crucial instance of marginal error that dashes all our hopes, even then, let us all cherish this moment in time. And celebrate this extraordinary team.
In honor of our Budapest bound resident Latin scholar, to quote Horace: “Dum loquimur, fugerit invida aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero”.
“While we speak, envious time has fled:seize the day, trusting as little as possible in tomorrow.”
Come on Arsenal!
