PSG vs Arsenal: 'Football 2.0 vs Haramball'? — Why the Champions League final is not a simple case of beautiful football against anti-football?

The Puskas Arena in Budapest will host the Champions League final on Saturday. As reigning European champions, Luis Enrique's PSG will have the chance to retain their crown. On the other side, Mikel Arteta's Arsenal arrive on a wave of momentum after ending a 22-year wait to win the Premier League. Two of the best and most expensively assembled squads in Europe.

Saturday's contest, also pits two markedly different coaching philosophies against one another. While PSG have earned a reputation for being devastating in possession, playing an intense and attacking brand of football, Arsenal have built their success on the work they do without the ball, with resolute pressing and dominance from set pieces.

It is no coincidence that Luis Enrique's side boast the best attack in this season's Champions League with 44 goals scored. Arteta, meanwhile, can point to the best defence in the competition, having conceded just six goals. Although both managers have achieved success this term with their respective tactical preferences, Arsenal tend to attract more criticism than PSG for the manner of their performances.

But the debate over playing styles ought not to become disrespectful. You may not find what the Gunners do on the pitch entertaining, but it is undeniable that their strategy can be every bit as effective as PSG's when it comes to lifting the trophy.

The contrasting verdicts on PSG and Arsenal

A clear example came in the contrasting reactions to the semi-finals. PSG produced an electrifying and unpredictable tie against a Bayern Munich side cut from similar cloth, with the aggregate scoreline finishing 6-5. The Gunners, by contrast, eliminated an equally conservative Atletico Madrid side with a 2-1 aggregate victory.

For those who crave goals, the football produced by the French club was hailed as a kind of "Football 2.0", a revolution worthy of widespread praise. At the same time, Arsenal's displays were branded with the "Haramball" label, a form of anti-football that drew scorn from those who disapprove of a more defensive school.

"With the 5-4, we were on cloud nine. Now we are back to planet Earth," said Thierry Henry on CBS Sports Golazo Network after the first leg on 30 April. "In PSG vs Bayern we saw total football. In the other one, we just saw football."

"Frankly, it was boring," Wesley Sneijder told Ziggo Sport following the second leg on 5 May. "It did not feel like a semi-final. It lacked intensity, creativity and quality in the final third. I said after 35 minutes, UEFA must intervene. They need to call London: both teams off the pitch, and tomorrow the final will be played between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain."

What Luis Enrique and Mikel Arteta have said about each other

Those were just some of the comments that drew comparisons between the two finalists' routes to Budapest. One of the few voices to push back against the celebration of the goalfest between PSG and Bayern Munich was Alessandro Melli. The former Italian striker, who played for Parma, Sampdoria and Milan, argued in favour of greater defensive balance, a view that divided opinion.

"A game that no longer makes provision for defending, marking or midfield protection — that kind of football genuinely disgusts me," Melli said late last month. "Do you know who loves this football? Television, commentators and fans for whom seeing goals is enough, but who do not understand the game at all. Modern football has become the new NBA."

Even as opponents, Luis Enrique and Arteta do not hide the admiration they hold for one another. In a press conference last week, the PSG boss congratulated the Arsenal manager on winning the English title after three successive runners-up finishes, highlighting his effectiveness both defensively and offensively against the best sides in the world.

"I think they deserved to win the league — they had a brilliant season," he said. "Without the ball, they are the best team in the world, and with it they manage to score plenty of goals. That is a wonderful combination."

Speaking to Marca, Arteta was equally complimentary about Luis Enrique. The Arsenal manager argued that the PSG boss deserves to be celebrated for remaining faithful to his ideology throughout his career. It is worth remembering that Luis Enrique declared his team would become even stronger without Kylian Mbappe, who announced his move to Real Madrid in the first half of 2024.

"He is someone who had the leadership to follow a path, and even with all the noise against him, he kept on that path and ended up winning the way he did. He is an example for everyone," Arteta said.

Each manager makes the most of the context at his disposal

Let it be clear that everybody is free to find one style of football more attractive than another — tastes are, after all, individual. But it would be wrong to ignore the fact that both Spaniards extract the maximum potential from their squads based on the circumstances in which they operate.

In France, Luis Enrique can enjoy a virtually unlimited budget to strengthen his squad. Dominant in Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France, PSG can afford the luxury of rotating their first-choice players domestically so that they arrive fresher in the Champions League, where that focus allows for the higher energy expenditure required to sustain a suffocating press at continental level.

When Luis Enrique was appointed in July 2023, PSG had never won the Champions League — the competition that had always been the ultimate objective of the project taken on by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011. For more than a decade, the club assembled a galaxy of stars in pursuit of that dream, yet the goal was only achieved once the manager prioritised the collective over the individual.

In Arteta's case, money is not an issue either, but the domestic competition is far more intense, making squad rotation considerably harder across the season. The Spaniard took charge of Arsenal in December 2019, at a time when the Premier League was at the peak of the rivalry between Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool and Pep Guardiola's Manchester City.

Before Arteta, Arsenal's most recent league title had come during the Invincibles season of 2003-04, and the club had reached just one Champions League final in their history, in 2005-06. To become protagonists again, the priority was to restore a winning mentality — not necessarily to play eye-catching football.

The manager opted for a more cautious approach in an effort to compete with the Reds' gegenpressing and City's positional play. In the early stages, Arteta struggled and faced heavy scrutiny, but he has finally reaped the rewards of a long and gruelling process that was embraced by his players.

Regardless of the outcome in Budapest, the trophy will be in good hands, given that both clubs have been outstanding according to their own parameters. The aesthetics are open to debate, but at the end of the day football remains about scoring more goals than your opponent — whether that comes in a thrilling 6-5 or a less dramatic 2-1.