Champions League final: Why Paris Saint-Germain can dominate Arsenal

Some of the numbers for individual players are eye-catching.

Les Parisiennes club captain Marquinhos has started 14 of those European games – the same as his total in the league (11 starts, 3 as a substitute).

The prolific Brazil defender did not see a single minute of league action from February 13 to April 19, remaining an unused sub for seven consecutive games. He played every minute of six Champions League games in that time frame.

Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele has completed 90 minutes in the league only once in 22 games. Forward Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has only played twice in 28 matches.

On May 12, Dembele controversially won the Ligue 1 Player of the Year award for the second year in a row with 10 goals and seven assists.

He started just 11 league games (9 at the time of the award), appearing in 22 of a possible 34, although a series of injury problems saw him miss 10.

Luis Enrique’s rotation policy – he has used 28 players in league games compared to Arteta’s 25 – has not been easy, but it has paid off.

Three of their six league defeats – against Marseille in September, Monaco in November and Lyon in April – have come immediately after Champions League matches.

Midfielder Warren Zaire-Emery has played a total of 2,453 league minutes in PSG’s squad. Six Arsenal players have clocked more than that.

The notion that England’s top flight is the best in Europe is not simply down to Anglocentric bias. The UEFA Club Coefficients rank the Premier League as the continent’s top division, while Ligue 1 ranks fifth.

PSG played 58 games last season en route to a fantastic four trophies, including the Champions League, beating Arsenal 3-1 on aggregate in the semi-finals. The Ligue 1 campaign is also four games shorter than the Premier League in its 18-team format.

Regardless, Arsenal’s key players have been on the move. Goalkeeper David Raya played every minute until his last-minute layoff against Crystal Palace.

Dylan Rice, William Saliba, Gabriel and Martin Zubimendi have all started at least 30 league games for the north London club, something Zaire-Emery can say for their opponents (the Gunners’ Jurien Timberlake, injured since mid-March and a major doubt for the finals, has still logged more minutes than him).

Of the 10 players who have played the most league minutes for both clubs this season, only two, Zaire Emery and Elia Zabarni, play for the Paris outfit.