PSG's Hakimi and Dembele Fit for Champions League Final Against Arsenal
Paris Saint-Germain will travel to the Champions League final with two of their biggest doubts on board. Achraf Hakimi and Ousmane Dembele are both named in Luis Enrique’s squad to face Arsenal on Saturday, a significant lift for the defending champions on the eve of their title defence.
Hakimi has not played since pulling up with a hamstring injury in the first leg of the semi-final against Bayern Munich, a moment that threatened to strip PSG of one of their most decisive weapons in transition. Dembele limped out of the final Ligue 1 game of the season against Paris FC with a muscle problem of his own.
Both have made it. Both will be in Hungary. And their presence alone changes the feel of this final.
Hakimi knows this stage. Twelve months ago he set PSG on their way in the showpiece, scoring the opener in a ruthless 5-0 dismantling of Inter Milan as the club finally got its hands back on Europe’s biggest prize. Few players in this squad carry that blend of big-game pedigree and tactical importance: his recovery pace, his timing on the overlap, the threat of that late arrival into the box.
Dembele, for his part, gives Enrique the chaos factor. When fit, he stretches defensive lines, drags full-backs into places they don’t want to go and creates space for the midfielders driving through the centre. Even if neither man is ready for 90 minutes, Arsenal now have two extra problems to solve.
Arsenal arrive as newly crowned Premier League champions, riding a wave that has rolled all the way from August to May. Less than a week after lifting the trophy in England, they stand one game from a historic double. Domestic dominance banked, they now stare at the one stage that has eluded them, against the side that sent them packing at the semi-final stage last season.
That tie still stings in north London. PSG’s 3-1 aggregate win turned on the second leg, when Fabian Ruiz and Hakimi struck to kill Arsenal’s run and underline the French club’s growing maturity in Europe. This time, Mikel Arteta’s team arrive with medals around their necks and a harder edge to their football, but the opponent is the same, and so is the threat.
The European champions are not short of confidence. Winger Bradley Barcola made that clear before boarding the plane.
“It’s a great honour to be playing in a second final,” he told club media. “We’re going to do everything we can to win it. We’re trying to build as much confidence as possible ahead of this final, and we’re going to work hard to make sure we’re ready. I really think it’s our collective strength. The fact that we play together, attack together and defend together. We really play as a team, and that’s our greatest strength right now.”
That collective is written all over the squad list. Behind the headline returns of Hakimi and Dembele, Enrique travels with a tight, balanced group.
In goal, Chevalier, Safonov and Renato Marin will compete for the gloves. The defence is anchored by Marquinhos, with Beraldo, Zabarnyi, L. Hernandez, Nuno Mendes, Pacho and Hakimi offering a mix of aggression, recovery speed and ball-playing calm across the back line.
The midfield is built to control and suffocate. Fabian, Vitinha, Mayulu, Dro, Zaire-Emery and Joao Neves give Enrique options to either dominate possession or spring forward in numbers, depending on how Arsenal approach the contest.
On the other side, Arsenal have quietly received an injury boost of their own. Jurrien Timber, out since March with a hamstring injury picked up against Everton and absent for 14 matches across all competitions, has rejoined full training and been named in the travelling party to Hungary. His versatility across the back four and inverting into midfield could prove invaluable against PSG’s fluid front line, even if he is used only in short bursts.
The stage, then, is set: the champions of England against the champions of Europe, kick-off at 5pm, with one side chasing a double and the other hunting back-to-back continental crowns.
PSG know exactly what it takes to walk up those steps with the trophy. Arsenal know exactly what it feels like to watch them do it.
Which memory will define this season?
