New-look PSG set to dominate after successive Champions League titles

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Paris Saint-Germain waited 14 years following the Qatar Sports Investments takeover for their first Champions League title. Now two have come along at once and they are 5-1 favourites to land a hat-trick next season.

As Gabriel’s penalty sailed over the bar and into the Parisian end in Budapest, PSG became the tenth club to successfully defend Europe’s biggest prize and just the second since the start of the Champions League era.  

Real Madrid’s record of three successive titles from 2016 to 2018 is the modern-day benchmark. Now, the question is whether PSG match that feat.

After more than a decade of breaking transfer records and signing the biggest names in world football, PSG changed tack after Luis Enrique arrived in 2023, and Neymar, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe all left the club in the space of a year.

In their place, a new attacking core of Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has surpassed all expectations, racking up 62 combined goal contributions in the Champions League since the start of last season.

The presence of those three players is far from the only reason for the French side's success. 

All ten of the outfield players to start for PSG at the Puskas Arena also started last season’s Champions League final, illustrating the trust that Enrique has in this group of players. Just two of them, captain Marquinhos and midfielder Fabian Ruiz, are 30 or older.

Their lighter domestic demands also play a role in just how dominant this PSG side can be in Europe.

Arsenal played nine more matches than PSG over the course of the season, and the comparatively low level of competition in France afforded Enrique plenty of opportunities to rest his star players while still winning Ligue 1 with games to spare. 

In a footballing landscape of ever-increasing demands on the players, that is a luxury that can make an awful lot of difference, and it would be no surprise if the core of this side return for a third successive final next season.

That is not to take away from their performance in Budapest. They were by far the better side, and their willingness to attack made for a stark contrast with Mikel Arteta’s defence-first approach.

They had three-quarters of possession, completed four times as many passes as Arsenal, and outshot them 21-7. Kai Havertz’s early goal was the Gunners' only attempt on target in 120 minutes of play. 

Many Arsena will be left wondering if things might have turned out differently with a more adventurous approach, and if they can finally land their first Champions League next season.

But this is exactly how Arteta has set up this team, and that worked undeniably well in securing a first Premier League title in more than two decades.

This philosophy works well in grinding out results in a gruelling league campaign, but knockout football, where a single mistake can undo 90 minutes of control, is a different beast, often rewarding adaptability and creativity.

That willingness to let attacking players loose when the situation calls for it is something that Arteta could work on, although it’s hard to see him doing so if it compromises the elite defensive unit he has worked so hard to forge.

The Gunners have a great chance of retaining the Premier League given Pep Guardiola’s imminent departure from the top flight, but their adaptability needs to improve. Their reliance on rigid structures and set-pieces is never likely to win hearts, and the concern is whether it gives them enough flexibility to decide those finely poised nights in Europe.

Arsenal are joint-second-favourites for next season's Champions League along with Bayern Munich, while Barcelona and Manchester City are 7-1 shots.

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