Arsenal or PSG | Who would Inter rather face in the Champions final?

Inter Milan’s players celebrate the 1-0 goal during the UEFA Champions soccer match between Inter and Arsenal FC at Giuseppe Meazza stadium in Milan, Italy, 06 November 2024. EPA-EFE/NICOLA MARFISI

Inter booked their spot in the Champions League final for the second time in three years with a spectacular 7-6 aggregate victory against Barcelona over the last week, which means that they will go on to face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain in the final depending on the result of Wednesday’s semi-final. 

Here is a look at which team Inter would rather face in the final and what difficulties both teams could present for Simone Inzaghi and his team. 

Why Inter have reason to be confident against Arsenal

There is reason for Inter to feel confident heading into a final if it were to be against Arsenal, given that the Nerazzurri have already beaten the Gunners 1-0 in the Champions this season. 

Hakan Calhanoglu scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot moments before half-time in a match that saw Inzaghi leave several first-team players out of the starting line-up, including Alessandro Bastoni, Federico Dimarco, Nicolo Barella, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marcus Thuram. 

Arsenal, meanwhile, now have to do without a key central defender in Gabriel Magalhaes, who lined up as a starter in Inter’s 1-0 victory in the league phase. Kai Havertz, who also started on that occasion, is out for the remainder of the season, too. 

There are fewer guarantees going up against PSG, given that they and Inter have never previously met in the Champions. The two teams have only previously met in friendlies, the most recent of which ended in a 2-1 Inter victory in the summer of 2023. 

PSG have also managed to avoid facing any of the five Italian teams who participated in the 2024-25 Champions. 

How Arsenal could cause problems for Inter 

Arsenal tend to line up in a similar shape to Barcelona, albeit with a more conservative defensive approach. 

Both typically deploy a 4-3-3 shape, with plenty of attacking threat in their attacking departments. For Arsenal, the key player in the final third is right winger Bukayo Saka, who would likely play a similar role to Lamine Yamal in the Inter-Barcelona tie if Arsenal were to qualify for the final. 

The England international could take a note out of the Spaniard’s book, particularly from his first leg performance, where he was able to cause plenty of trouble for Dimarco, controlling the space between the left wing-back and his closest central defender, Bastoni. 

That said, Barcelona also had Raphinha on the left wing, who has 57 goal involvements from 53 matches in all competitions this season. 

While Arsenal have useful players in that department, Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard among them, they do not have anyone who can rival Raphinha’s individual statistics this season.

So, if Inter were able to get past Raphinha and Yamal, then there is no reason on paper why they shouldn’t be able to do the same against Saka and Martinelli. 

How PSG could cause problems for Inter 

Similarly, PSG also tend to utilise a 4-3-3 formation under Luis Enrique, typically with Ousmane Dembele through the middle and a combination of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Bradley Barcola and Desire Doue out on the wings. 

Again, the wingers will be the players to watch out for, but unlike Arsenal, PSG have a bit more threat through the middle owing to Dembele’s form in front of goal this year, with 45 goals and assists from 45 appearances in all competitions. 

There is, however, a positive statistic that Inter hold over PSG, in that former Napoli winger Kvaratskhelia has never scored nor provided an assist against the Nerazzurri in his five matches against them. Not even in the 2022-23 season when he came up with 25 goal contributions from 34 appearances.