Journey to PSG's Promised Land or Inter's Return to Ithaca

Munich could become the promised land for PSG this Saturday or the scene of a return to Ithaca for Inter Milan. After enduring disappointments in the top continental competition, the Parisian team aspires to finally crown the grand dream that led Qatar Sports Investments to land in the city of light and love in 2011, filling it with a constellation of stars that failed to shine together. Ironically, the Parc des Princes team is close to their coveted goal precisely when they have stopped being a collection of stars and transformed into a team under the firm hand of Luis Enrique. Their last obstacle to joining the exclusive club of Champions League winners is the Lombard side, a three-time European champion eager to enjoy glory fifteen years later to save a season where they dreamed of winning everything but might end up with nothing.

Football often travels along paths as perilous as they are inscrutable. Just look at PSG's journey in this Champions League, which went from being on the brink of elimination during the league phase to soaring in the knockout rounds. They reached the sixth matchday with four points and a twenty-fifth place in the table, teetering on the edge. But three consecutive victories against Salzburg, Manchester City, and Stuttgart allowed them to save the match point against them, and since then, their progress has been formidable. They crushed Brest in the playoffs, overcame Liverpool in the round of 16 after a nerve-wracking penalty shootout, defeated Aston Villa with more difficulty in the return leg than the comfortable lead from the first leg suggested, and made Arsenal the third English victim on their journey to paradise with double victories in Paris and London.

In the unprecedented duel with Inter, the second final of the top continental competition between French and Italian teams after the one that crowned Marseille in 1993 by defeating Milan in Munich, PSG arrives brimming with confidence and with a radically different spirit from the star-studded squad that five years ago rowed only to die on the shore in Lisbon. Only Marquinhos will repeat in the starting eleven with which Luis Enrique will take to the Allianz Arena pitch compared to the one led by Mbappé and Neymar that succumbed at Da Luz against Bayern. A fact that accredits the revolution carried out by Lucho to change the face of a team that has left behind the vanities of the past to become a capitalised team that is close to an unprecedented poker in France after conquering Ligue 1, the Cup, and the Super Cup.

The numbers support them. No one has run as many kilometres in this Champions League as PSG (1,904.53), which has seven of the ten players leading this statistic: Joao Neves (1), Vitinha (2), Achraf (4), Pacho (5), Marquinhos (6), Nuno Mendes (7), and Fabián Ruiz (8). But that is by no means the only area where Lucho's block excels. They top the rankings for shots on target (111), passes made (10,225), completed passes (9,191), executed attacks (959), dribbles (339), balls recovered (694), successful tackles (105), and fouls suffered (165). They are also third in possession (59.6%) and passing accuracy (88.9%), and second in both goals scored (33) and clean sheets (6).

All this after investing 239 million euros in the signings of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (70), Joao Neves (59.92), Désiré Doué (50), Willian Pacho (40), and Matvey Safonov (20). Except for the Russian, overshadowed by a formidable Gianluigi Donnarumma, these additions have strengthened a squad that lacked depth but now has solutions of all kinds and has as its main opener a stellar Ousmane Dembélé, who would bolster his Ballon d'Or candidacy if he lifts the Champions League trophy.

Avoiding new stings from the Mosquito will be one of the challenges for an Inter that has travelled the path to Munich very differently from PSG. The 'Nerazzurri' were tremendously consistent in the group stage, finishing fourth after conceding only one goal. They smoothly ousted Feyenoord in the round of 16, struggled to eliminate Bayern in the quarter-finals, and knocked out Barça in a thrilling semi-final resolved in extra time.

Resilience is one of the weapons of this Inter, which, however, faces the final with doubts. Simone Inzaghi's continuity remains in the air, an underrated coach despite having won nine titles in the last eight years and having led Inter to the most anticipated club-level clash for the second time in three seasons. The Lombards are still smarting from the defeat suffered two years ago at the hands of City in Istanbul, a final that had seven of the likely starters who will take to the Allianz Arena in the 'Nerazzurri' line-up. The Scudetto lost to Napoli a week ago and a debacle in the Coppa Italia semi-finals against Milan, also their nemesis in the Super Cup, have taken a toll on the Giuseppe Meazza side's morale. Nonetheless, Inzaghi's men have lost only one of the fourteen Champions League matches they have played this season and are unbeaten in the last eight, which fuels Inter's hopes of reclaiming the throne they last seized fifteen years ago under José Mourinho and adding a fourth Champions League title to match Ajax.

PSG: Donnarumma, Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Nuno Mendes, Joao Neves, Vitinha, Fabián Ruiz, Kvaratskhelia, Dembélé, and Barcola.

Inter Milan: Sommer, Pavard, Acerbi, Bastoni, Dumfries, Barella, Çalhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco, Lautaro Martínez, and Thuram.

Referee: István Kovács (Romania).

Time: 21:00 h.

Stadium: Allianz Arena.

TV: La 1 / Movistar Plus+.