There’s a bit of Beauty and the Beast contrast between the two Champions League semi-finals starting this week.
Tuesday’s match between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich will see two teams with easy-to-see attacking teams playing perhaps the highest quality and most technical football in the world today.
Wednesday’s clash between Atletico Madrid and Arsenal will be a traditional durable style clash with solid defense.
Title holders PSG and Bayern have each won the Champions League in the past six seasons.
Atlético and Arsenal have never been European champions, with a combined record of 4 wins and 0 losses in finals.
PSG and Bayern have won a total of 24 domestic league titles over the past 14 seasons. Bayern are already Bundesliga champions this season and are likely to claim another French title in Paris next month.
Atlético were twice crowned Spanish champions during that period, while Arsenal are locked in a battle with Manchester City to win their first English title in 22 years.
The commonality between the semi-finals is that they are a rematch of this season’s league match, which Bayern and Arsenal won.
A real final?
PSG vs. Bayern would be chosen by many as the ideal final match after their impressive performances defeating Liverpool and Real Madrid respectively in the quarter-finals. They are the tournament’s joint leading scorers this season, with 38 goals apiece.
it is 2020 finals When Bayern became European champions for the sixth time and PSG missed out on their first appearance in the title match.
The game in Lisbon was a bizarre climax to a pandemic-delayed season – played in mid-August in an empty stadium. The person who made this decision was Kingsley Coman, a former PSG trainee who later went on to play in Munich.
Also, of the previous six times Bayern have reached the semi-finals, this was the only time they reached the final. Five losses were against the Spanish national team, and one win was against the French national team. Lyon lost a single-leg match in the Lisbon mini-tournament during lockdown.
Bayern won their trip to Paris in November. Luis Diaz scored twice but was sent off. Tackle on Achraf Hakimi before half-time.
Still, Luis Enrique’s PSG peaked in the second half of the season and have found a new level since signing the Georgia winger. Hvitya Kvaratskheria In January of last year.
The return match will take place in Munich next Wednesday. PSG loses to Inter Milan Win your first European title.
A game in Madrid
Arsenal’s record as the only unbeaten side in this season’s Champions League will be put to the test in the intense atmosphere at the Metropolitano Stadium.
Arsenal have conceded just five goals in their last 12 games, a record similar to Atlético’s during Diego Simeone’s long reign, when they mainly played frenetic football.
This is a more expansive version of Atlético, who have conceded an astonishing 26 goals in 14 Champions League games this season. Julián Alvarez scored 9 of his 34 points on the other side.
In the semi-finals, two of Europe’s top coaches will face off against each other. Simeone, who is in his remarkable 15th season (earning around $35 million and often said to be the highest-paid club coach in world football), and Arteta, who is in his seventh season at Arsenal.
still, Arsenal beat Atletico 4-0 October feels like a long time ago. A four-goal outburst, including two from Victor Goqueres in the first 15 minutes of the second half, showed a freedom that Arteta’s side found difficult to regain in this game. Tense second half season.
Atlético’s semi-final run came after taking the lead in the first leg, ambushing Tottenham at home and defeating Barcelona before overcoming intense pressure in the return game. It will take place in London next Tuesday.
Rwanda partner
All four semi-finalists have sponsorship deals with the same African nation-state.
Arsenal took the lead “Visit Rwanda” The sleeve patch contract from eight years ago ends after this season. club posts annual message On his social media accounts, he documented the genocide that took place there 30 years ago.
Sponsorships with Arsenal, Bayern and PSG were criticized last year by neighboring Congo due to Rwanda’s support for the M23 militia. Conflict in the eastern part of the country.
A few weeks later, Atlético announce three-year contract With Rwanda, it noted that “the club’s values of resilience, discipline and excellence are closely aligned with Rwanda’s national spirit and journey of transformation.”
The Congolese government launched a similar strategy when asking European soccer clubs to end sponsorships worth tens of millions of dollars didn’t work. Congo became a sponsor BarcelonaAC Milan, monaco.
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