Five players who could define Champions League final: PSG’s attackers, Inter’s star striker lead way

Saturday’s Champions League final (3 p.m. Paramount+) Is packaged at the trusses with individual talent. Paris Saint-Germain has become something of a surprising favorite among neutrals, precisely because they have so many somewhat unauthorized names (and a few who are rightly praised with praise) that have made a much more effective side than so much of their most illustrious predecessors.

In the meantime, Inter has proven more than proven their quality for three seasons, so that they have reached the Champions League final twice. In 2022 they just fell short, while they held Manchester City to just one goal that finally decided the final. Can they get better this time out? They certainly have a lot of talent on both ends of the field, enough to decide tight ties with Barcelona and Bayern Munich in their favor.

How you can view the final of the Champions League, opportunities

• Date: Saturday May 31 | Time3 pm
• Location: Allianz Arena – Munich, Germany
• TV: CBS | Live stream: Paramount+
• Chances: Paris Saint-Germain +105; Drawing +240; Inter +270

Here are five players who can be decisive in the Allianz Arena:

1. Ousmane Dembele, PSG

One of the three or four best players in the world this season, Ousmane Dembele has been the star who best defines PSG’s remarkable season. It is not that he was not an an elitental talent when he shared the field with people like Kylian Mbappe or, during his years in Barcelona, ​​Lionel Messi. Injuries did not help, but perhaps Dembele was limited by his role as at best Robin and sometimes even Red Robin. Not such problems now. Dembele has earned both a central role in the plans of Luis Enrique and his XI.

Since he moved to the central forward role in January, the 28-year-old has been unstoppable. In 19 games that the PSG line Leiden since the turn of the year, Dembele has 18 goals and four assists, on average a ridiculous 5.15 shots and 0.98 non-penalty expected goals per 90 minutes. You will assume that these figures are artificially inflated by his Ligue 1 onions and well, yes, they are a bit. But not much. Dembele has supplied in the largest phases.

A slow start of the competition phase means that PSG has been in Knock -Out mode since December, and with the efforts on their highest, Dembele has delivered. He turned the tide against Manchester City, equalized when Liverpool could impose himself on the Tour of 16 and the Emirates Stadium balloon burst. In 10 of the largest matches of the PSG season – their last 10 in the Champions League – they received eight goals and three assists from Dembele. Without their number 10 taking the step of talented but inconsistent star to match winner on the largest stage, it is impossible to present PSG in the last number two.

And when they take the field in the Allianz Arena, there will be no question who is the best player on the field, the person who has to adjust every other player. Dembele, so often a supporting character, is the head of this Champions League final.

2. KHVICA KVARATSKHELIA, PSG

If someone could compete with him for that title, it can be the man who starts his left side. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is a one -man defense bus, the kind that defenders in paroxysms of frustration can float where they start pollining the Georgian, not because it makes sense or slows. They just want to hit the man who humiliates them over the past 20 minutes.

That was rather the experience that Jurrien Timber had in the first stage of the semi -final. The Arsenal Right Back had been one of the best one-on-one defenders in Europe this season, causing Bradley Barcola to appear in the group stage in the Emirates Stadium. For 20 minutes the best he could do repeatedly Kvaratskhelia. On the other hand, when you see what he did with Aston Villa when they didn’t come close, Hack-a-khvicha seems like a good plan.

It really should not go unnoticed that Kvaratskhelia is mainly disciplined for a player of his glorious talents, a hard worker who will be perfectly prepared to follow the Dumfries up and down. However, that will not be what attracts your attention. There is a reason why they gave him the nickname Kvaradona when he came out of nowhere – well, Batumi – to dismiss Napoli to their first Serie A title in 33 years.

There is magic in the boots of the Georgian. If someone is going to give this final, his Gareth Bale bicycle shovel or Zinedine Zidane Volley, it is Kvaratskhelia.

3. Lautaro Martinez, Inter

The fact that we started with two PSG attackers should not be read as a reflection on a scarcity of quality in the inter side. Certainly not with Lautaro Martinez in the form that he has shown in the Champions League. The Argentin has so far scored in every round of the knockouts, making a remarkable comeback made of a muscle injury to play and play in the unforgettable 4-3 victory over Barcelona in the second stage of the semi-finals.

The 27-year-old typifies this interkant: fight tested at the greatest moments, perhaps at the slope after so many years of performances at top level, but with the nous and intelligence to deliver at the greatest moments. His understanding of how to play in a double system with Marcus Thuram will ask questions for PSG that they have rarely confronted at the highest level of European football, and Martinez offers no doubt when looking at a second final in three years.

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“We have to look at [PSG’s] Strong and weaknesses that we can benefit from making a great match and final, “he said.” Above all, we have to enjoy it because it has been a tough competition and we have reached the final for the past three years, so we earn it. We have done the work, are modest and want to continue to grow.

“To experience another final of this scale, this competition will be incredible. It is a dream that is back within our reach, and I don’t even want to think about whether I will achieve this goal that we all want, and one that has been missing in Inter for so long. I really want to enjoy the moment, this final, this game.

4. Yann Summer, Inter

On the other hand, for all the excellence of their attacking players, it is difficult to imagine how inter as they have taken without Yann Sommer between the sticks. In the course of 13 Champions League matches, he admitted 11 goals and 5.23, the last based on the XG value of the shots he has to deal with. He also not only blown up his figures against lesser opponents. Here are his performances in the semi -final, quarterfinals and against English teams:

• vs. Manchester City: Five shots on targeted, five rescues, 1.2 goals prevent
• vs. Arsenal: Four shots on goal -oriented, four rescues, 1.65 goals prevent
• vs. Bayern Munich (Two -legged quarterfinals): 13 shots on goal -oriented, 10 rescues, 0.21 goals prevent
• vs. Barcelona (two Poots semi -final): 19 shots on goal -oriented, 14 rescues, 1.74 goals prevent

It needs something to surpass Gianluigi Donnarumma in the Champions League of this season. What Sommer delivered, well, that’s quite something.

As was clear to everyone who saw him at Euro 2020, this is a keeper who lights up the largest occasions. Sommer would have already reached a peak with the amazing display so that he had kept Barcelona up to only three goals in the second stage of the semi -final, the precise diving of him to deny Lamine Yamal in one way or another improved by a blocking block that Eric Garcia left with his head in his hands. For a man of 37 years old, the lightness on his feet to tear over his goal and to balance himself in such a way that he can get a meaningful glove on an attempt that may only have been clamped differently.

Given the ability of PSG to control the territory and the threat of their attack, this promises to be a busy day for Sommer, which this season has confronted an average of 4.4 shots in the Champions League per 90 minutes. So far he has delivered for Inter when they needed it the most. They will definitely be on Saturday on Saturday.

5. Achraf Hakimi, PSG

Only one place to fill and so many options. Alessandro Bastoni is perhaps the best game of the playmakers on the planet. Vitinha is perhaps the best midfielder in the game. This final may not have a Premier League Super -Team, one of the Big Two of Spain or even some stars that have left the Parc des Princes, but do not think this means that it is missing in the talents. There is more than enough to go around.

The very ranking under those superstars is Achraf Hakimi, a crucial cog in this PSG side. Inter, for whom he patrol the right flank before he was washed away Parisians In 2021 his qualities will know all too well. Just as he was in Milan, Hakimi can function as a one -man right flank as required.

Certainly, he is extremely effective on the front foot, with only Barcola and Dembele at the back in terms of penalties. Every full back average of more than two shots per 90 is a serious attacking threat, especially when they are hit, as well as the one he scored against Arsenal in the semi -final second stage. Although that came from a broken game, it speaks to one of the great qualities of Hakimi, his ability to step in and cause so much danger as on the overlap. Many fullbacks can make devastating runs on the overlap, a growing number can also influence the game with noticeable runs and the inland field steps. While his touch card refers below, Hakimi can both do.

Because Hakimi, now plays for an elite European club in his seventh season, has developed its defensive pork chops. The fact that he can effectively become back pressure when the caught field is overtaken is a way to make PSG one of the most effective elite parties out of possession. Only 10 players have won more possession this season in the attacking third than the Moroccan, and you should not be surprised to hear that none of them are defenders. Let him go back and he still has the athletics to catch someone. If he can overcome Bastoni and Federico Dimarco, which means that the latter focus on defending instead of the threat he can pose in the last third, then Hakimi could have a significant effect on this match if everyone.