The two Champions League semifinals that start this week have a bit of a beauty and the beast contrast.
Paris Saint-Germain vs. Bayern Munich on Tuesday pairs two easy-on-the-eye attacking teams playing arguably the highest quality technical soccer in the world today.
Atletico Madrid vs. Arsenal on Wednesday is a clash of traditionally durable styles with tight defenses.
Titleholder PSG and Bayern each has won the Champions League in the past six seasons.
Atletico and Arsenal never have been European champion and are a combined 0-for-4 in finals.
PSG and Bayern have a total of 24 domestic league titles between them in the last 14 seasons. Bayern is already Bundesliga champion this season and another French title is likely coming to Paris next month.
Atletico was twice Spanish champion in that period, while Arsenal is in a duel with Manchester City to earn a first English title in 22 years.
What the semifinals have in common is being rematches from this season’s league phase, which were won by Bayern and Arsenal.
The real final?
PSG vs. Bayern would be many people’s choice of the ideal final, after their majestic displays in the quarterfinals to eliminate, respectively, Liverpool and Real Madrid. They are the tournament joint top scorers this season, each with 38 goals.
It was the final in 2020 when Bayern became European champion for the sixth time and PSG lost its first title match appearance.
That game in Lisbon was the strange climax to the delayed, pandemic-affected season — played in an empty stadium in mid-August. It was decided by Kingsley Coman, the former PSG trainee who eventually starred in Munich.
It was also the only time Bayern advanced to the final in its last six semifinal appearances. The five losses were against Spanish opponents and the one victory was against a French team. Lyon was beaten in a single-leg game at the lockdown Lisbon mini-tournament.
Bayern won on its trip to Paris in November. Luis Díaz scored twice then was sent off before halftime for a tackle on Achraf Hakimi.
Still, PSG under coach Luis Enrique peaks in the second half the season, finding a new level since signing Georgia winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in January last year.
The return game is on Wednesday next week in Munich, where PSG routed Inter Milan to win its first European title.
A-game in Madrid
Arsenal’s record as the only unbeaten team in this season’s Champions League will be tested in the intense atmosphere of the Metropolitano Stadium.
Arsenal has conceded just five goals in 12 games so far, the kind of record associated with Atletico during coach Diego Simeone’s long reign of mostly feisty soccer.
This is a more expansive Atletico version, with a surprising 26 goals conceded in 14 Champions League games this season. Julián Alvarez has got nine of the 34 scored at the other end.
The semifinal pairs two of Europe’s long-serving top-tier coaches: Simeone in a remarkable 15th season — often described as the highest paid club coach in world soccer, earning about $35 million — and Arteta in his seventh with Arsenal.
Still, Arsenal’s 4-0 win over Atletico in October feels a long time ago. A four-goal burst in 15 second-half minutes, including two from Viktor Gyokeres, showed a freedom Arteta’s team has found hard to recapture in a tense second half the season.
Atletico’s path to the semifinals has been taking first-leg leads — ambushing Tottenham at home then winning at Barcelona — before riding out severe pressure in the return game. That will be in London on Tuesday of next week.
Rwanda partners
All four semifinalists have a sponsor deal with the same nation state in Africa.
Arsenal led the way with a “Visit Rwanda” sleeve patch deal eight years ago that ends after this season. The club posts annual messages on its social media account marking the genocide there three decades ago.
The sponsorships with Arsenal, Bayern and PSG were criticized last year by neighboring Congo because of Rwanda’s backing for the M23 militia in conflicts in the eastern part the country.
Weeks later, Atletico announced a three-year deal with Rwanda, noting “the club’s values of resilience, discipline, and excellence closely align with Rwanda’s national ethos and transformation journey.”
When the Congolese government’s request for European soccer clubs to end the sponsorships — worth tens of millions of dollars — had no effect, it started a similar strategy. Congo now sponsors Barcelona, AC Milan and Monaco.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
