Champions League Final 2024 - 2025: Youth vs Warriors

The final 'show', which is also the most special show, will start at 2am on June 1 (Vietnam time) to end the 2024-2025 football season in Europe. That is the Champions League final between PSG and Inter Milan.

NO STARS... THE BETTER

Neutral football fans may be a little disappointed that the world's hottest stars are all absent from this year's Champions League final. Lamine Yamal, Raphinha (Barcelona), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid)... have all been eliminated with their clubs. However, experience shows that the Champions League final is not always a great performance by the stars that the whole world is waiting for. In many cases, neutralizing such superstars is always the most important job that the coaches have to think of a solution for, before the biggest match in the world at the club level. In theory, the players of both PSG and Inter Milan can play comfortably, because there is no star that the opponent needs "special care".

Inter Milan coach Simone Inzaghi (left) will have the opportunity to compete with PSG coach Luis Enrique. PHOTO: REUTERS

As always, the battle for dominance in the midfield is considered the most important in big matches. PSG's trio of Vitinha, Joao Neves, Fabian Ruiz will fight Hakan Calhanoglu, Nicolo Barella, Davide Frattesi in this area. The only difference is that PSG will play a 4-3-3 formation while Inter Milan will play 3-5-2. In 3-5-2, the decisive factor in victory is often the winger, and in this case, Inter Milan's Denzen Dumfries (playing on the right) will be the player to watch. The direct confrontation between Dumfries and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia can decide the whole story (Kvaratskhelia is the left winger in PSG's 4-3-3 formation).

Dumfries' left-wing teammate Federico Dimarco is also a prolific assist maker, while Lautaro Martinez is Inter Milan's most prolific scorer. On PSG's side, Ousmane Dembele is the biggest hope, and is also the bookmaker's top scorer. If PSG win, Dembele will be the only player in the match who has any real hope of competing for the Ballon d'Or.

"UPPER" IS BEHIND PSG

According to the betting market's price chart, PSG's chances of lifting the trophy are 59%, nearly one and a half times higher than Inter Milan's 41%. According to Opta's computer analysis, PSG has a 44.6% chance of winning after 90 minutes; Inter Milan has a 29% chance while the probability of a draw after 90 minutes is 26.4%. Of course, these numbers are only for reference.

When Inter Milan are awarded free kicks, these are the situations that bring them hope of scoring. 21% of Inter Milan's total goals in Serie A come from this strong point. The usual image: 1.92m tall players like Francesco Acerbi or Alessandro Bastoni are ready to seize the opportunity to score every time Inter Milan take a free kick. Moreover, defending free kicks is PSG's weakness. Up to 31% of PSG's total goals conceded in Ligue 1 come from the opponent's free kick situation.

The final is likely to be a game in which PSG have more possession and attack, but that is not the decisive factor. Inter Milan are naturally defensive while PSG are more of an attacker. This will be a match between two very contrasting styles of play. PSG's expected goals (xG) and total goals in all competitions this season are second only to Barcelona. PSG have the most shots on goal and "clear" chances in Europe. They are second only to Manchester City in terms of the number of touches in the opponent's penalty area. Inter Milan have kept the most clean sheets, have the lowest conceding rate and have had the goalkeeper (Yann Sommer) make the most saves.

On the other hand, Inter Milan are definitely the team with more experience. They lost to Manchester City (the world's number 1 team at the time) in the 2023 Champions League final, and they certainly learned from it. Inter Milan's players over 30 have played a total of 6,151 minutes (43.3% of the time) in the Champions League this season. PSG only has one such player (Marquinhos, with 1,350 minutes on the pitch). Will the youth or the veterans win?

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/chung-ket-champions-league-2024-2025-gioi-tre-dau-chien-binh-185250530202825215.htm