What you need to know about the Champions League final |
Saturday’s UEFA Champions League final between Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain is a classic tale of an upstart team looking to unseat the reigning title holders.
PSG has gone from strength to strength since winning its first Champions League crown a year ago, while everything came together for Arsenal this year en route to finishing atop the English Premier League table for the first time in over two decades.
Here’s what you need to know about the Champions League final at Puskás Aréna in Budapest:
Saturday’s game is a straight knockout final. If the score is tied after 90 minutes of regulation, it will go to extra time and penalty kicks (if necessary) to determine the winner.
Arsenal finally shed its label of perennial bridesmaid when the London-based club beat out Manchester City by seven points to win its first Premier League title since 2004. Now, it has its sights set on a historic double by winning its first Champions League crown.
Paris Saint-Germain is eyeing a double of its own after winning its fifth consecutive Ligue 1 championship and eighth in nine years. PSG has been collecting trophies at a steady rate, having also won the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Intercontinental Cup since last year’s Champions League victory.
Champions League history
Saturday marks the eighth all-time meeting between Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain in European club competition.
The Gunners earned a 2-1 aggregate win over the Parisians in the semifinals of the 1993-94 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup.
Since then, the French side has lost just once in five Champions League meetings against the English club while recording victories in each of its previous three encounters. Two of those wins came in last season’s semifinals.
It is also the first time that English and French teams have met in the final of the European Cup and Champions League.
PSG will be making its third appearance in the Champions League final, having lost to........