Champions League review: a punch for Arteta, and are PSG and Arsenal really that different?

Destination Budapest, where Paris Saint-Germain will attempt to be the first club apart from Real Madrid to win two consecutive European Cups since Milan in 1990. Vincent Kompany’s promise of “more” from Bayern Munich after a nine-goal first leg did not materialise. PSG offered a different proposition in Wednesday’s second leg; they put on a performance of defensive discipline, with their attacking players committed to closing down their opponents. Luis Enrique’s team never allowed the tie to spin from their control even if there were 33 shots in Munich compared to 22 in Paris.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia plays like an old-style winger, and set up Ousmane Dembélé’s goal, but he is also thoroughly modern in the way he presses hard and high. Bayern found space at a premium until Harry Kane’s late goal. Luis Enrique’s team is much the same as last season’s, sticking to the same formula. They are a year older but still flush with youth. The PSG project took many years and billions of euros to hit pay dirt but is now delivering the success that was dreamed of after the Qatari takeover in 2011.

Arsenal’s Champions League progress has followed a straight line. In the last three seasons, Arsenal’s sequence reads quarter-final, semi-final and now final. If they beat PSG and get three more wins in the Premier League, they will complete the most glorious May in club history. It has been a grind of a campaign, with wobbles along the way, but by trusting his process, Arteta’s determination – which sometimes borders on stubbornness – has so far paid off. “You have to give this man a lot of credit because he came under a lot of criticism,” said Thierry Henry, Arsenal’s captain when the Gunners reached the 2006 final. “I was in that too, I will be honest, for a very long time.”

Europe’s best club teams have usually had a backbone of local, homegrown talent; think Barcelona’s La Masia graduates, Manchester United’s Class of ’92, Ajax of the 1970s and 1990s, Milan in the late 1980s. A globalisation of the transfer market has reduced many young players’ opportunities of progress, but to fans there will always be something special about homegrown players, and Bukayo Saka scoring the deciding goal against Atlético Madrid for Arsenal perfectly fit that template.

His teammate Myles Lewis-Skelly has had to wait his turn. He broke through last season as a left-back but his education came as a central midfield player. Dropping from prominence is likely to cost him a spot at full-back in this summer’s World Cup but Thomas Tuchel may now turn to Lewis-Skelly’s versatility. Arteta has been depicted as too risk-averse but selecting a 19-year-old in a Champions League semi-final bucked that idea. Lewis-Skelly, previously a victim of tough love from his manager, dovetailed with Declan Rice to lock down Atlético and command the central areas. Arteta is not afraid to blood youth – he has also shown faith in 16-year-old Max Dowman who was on the bench on Tuesday. Against Atlético, Lewis-Skelly was chosen in place of Martin Zubimendi, an expensive summer signing who has lost form. Lewis-Skelly is now in line to play part in his club’s biggest match in two decades, with Saka fresh after an injury-hit season.