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Football fans are looking forward to this Saturday night’s Champions League final between Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain at the Puskas Arena.
“Arsenal” cut the ticket to the final game at the expense of “Atletico” Madrid, and PSG eliminated its rival, “Bavaria” Munich.
The Daily Mail reported that fatigue is threatening the club’s chances Arsenal:To win his first title in the Champions League.
Based on this season’s numbers, it appears that Arsenal are not only the weakest side against the reigning champions ahead of the Champions League final, but some indicators suggest that they are already playing exhausted.
Arsenal have played more matches than any other team in Europe’s top five leagues in the League Cup and FA Cup promotion stages.
It’s fair to say that Paris has played almost as many matches this season (63 matches) as the seven Club World Cup matches last summer, but the difference in minutes played by key players in the two teams remains stark and clear.
Enrique and the politics of appeasing the stars of Paris
Unlike Mikel Arteta, who constantly had to test and push his players to the limit during a brutal Premier League season, the French league season was much less stressful for Paris.
This allowed coach Luis Enrique to calm down the Parisian stars in many matches, to maintain their preparation for the Champions League.
For example, “Golden Ball” winner midfielder Ousmane Dembele started only 11 out of 34 French league matches. Joao Neves, Nuno Mendes and Fabian Ruiz also started 13 matches each.
While Khvicha Kvaratskhelia started 18 matches, Desiree Dowie and Achraf Hakimi started 16 matches and Marquinhos only 11 matches.
These weren’t just substitute appearances, as none of these players played even half of the possible minutes in the domestic league this season.
Recycling policies increase Paris’ wealth
Mendes and Marquinhos have also played more minutes in the Champions League than in the Ligue 1 this season, despite Paris having played 18 fewer games in the continental league.
While some of this can be explained by injuries, the numbers show that the main reason is the rotation policy, which also helped Paris to a fifth consecutive French league title without much physical expense.
Arteta, on the other hand, appeared to rely more on his starting line-up towards the end of the season as David Ryan played every minute in the Premier League until the title was decided.
While Declan Rice missed just two matches, Zubimendi missed none and William Saliba and Gabriel also came close to the same tally with 49 and 50 matches respectively.
Among players who have played more than 3,000 minutes this season for both teams, there are only 3 PSG players in the top 12 in minutes.
It seems that Luis Enrique was originally planning to save his energy for this moment.
Player with most minutes this season (all competitions)
Arsenal:
David Raya – 4500 minutes
Declan Rice – 4336 minutes
Martin Zobemendi – 4268 minutes
William Saliba – 4134 minutes
Gabriel – 4090 minutes
Paris Saint Germain
Warren Zaire Emery – 4198 minutes
Vitinia – 3950 minutes
Willian Pacho – 3719 minutes
Bradley Barcola – 2933 minutes
Nuno Mendes – 2860 minutes
