Arsenal will face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final and the French club have a clear advantage over their opponents
Paris Saint-Germain will play Arsenal in the Champions League final(Image: Getty)
Paris Saint-Germain had league games postponed to give players extra rest before Champions League games against Liverpool and Chelsea this term. And the French outfit will have the same advantage against Arsenal in the tournament’s final.
Both the Gunners and Les Parisiens will do battle in Budapest as this season’s Champions League comes to a close. PSG are the holders, having beaten Inter in last year’s final 5-0. Arsenal have made the final once before, in 2006.
Mikel Arteta’s side capped off a brilliant Premier League-winning domestic campaign on Sunday against Crystal Palace. But PSG last played on May 17 when they lost 2-1 to rivals Paris FC.
This means that Luis Enrique’s men would have had 13 days to prepare for the final, whilst Arsenal, buoyed by their top-flight title success, would only have had six. That’s an entire week’s difference regarding rest time, but PSG are used to having such an advantage.
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Earlier in this Champions League campaign, PSG faced Chelsea in the Round of 16. The first leg took place in Paris on March 11, with the return leg at Stamford Bridge on March 17.
PSG faced Chelsea in March(Image: Getty)
On Saturday, March 14, when Chelsea faced Newcastle United in the Premier League, PSG were due to play Nantes. However, the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) received a request from PSG to postpone the game to allow them to better prepare for the European match and it was granted.
The game against Nantes was moved to April 22 and the French side beat Chelsea 5-2 at home before a 3-0 win in west London. Nantes’ manager at the time expressed some disdain over the fixture movement.
PSG had three extra days to prepare for the second leg against Chelsea and they had another game postponed ahead of their quarter-final tie with Liverpool. Before clashing with the Reds, PSG were set to face RC Lens on April 11, sandwiched in between the legs against Liverpool. But again, they lodged a request with the LFP and it was granted.
This intervention by league chiefs meant that PSG had a free weekend to recoup and plan before heading to Anfield on April 14. They had six days of rest between both legs whilst Liverpool played Fulham on April 11 and only had three days to prepare for the second leg.
The finalists also had a game postponed before playing Liverpool(Image: Getty)
However, the Lens match was postponed until May 13, creating more controversy than the moving of the Nantes game. At the time, Lens were one point behind PSG in the race for the Ligue 1 title.
They fought against the game being moved and released a strong statement. A snippet read: “It does indeed appear to us that a troubling sentiment is taking hold: that of a French championship gradually relegated to the status of an adjustment variable at the whim of the European imperatives of some.”
Despite their fury, the game was pushed back and PSG progressed past Liverpool 4-0 on aggregate. They also won their league title by six points, besting Lens 2-0 earlier this month. After beating Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-finals, they will now play the Gunners in the showpiece with a full seven-day advantage in terms of rest.
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