ARSENAL face a major battle to reach the Champions League final as they head to Paris Saint-Germain tonight.
But the game is likely to hinge on the performances of two key men.
Bukayo Saka is hoping to fire Arsenal to the Champions League final[/caption]
Ousmane Dembele will be Paris Saint-Germain’s key man tonight[/caption]
Bukayo Saka and Ousmane Dembele are both regarded as the star players for their respective sides.
And the numbers show they each excel in differing roles.
Saka and Dembele both favour their left foots and are often found operating on the right side of the field.
However, this season has seen PSG occasionally deploy Dembele as a central false nine.
And as a result, his attacking stats in the Champions League are slightly more impressive than Saka’s.
Dembele has eight goals to the Arsenal man’s five, while he also has one more assist with three in total.
Dembele has also made a stunning 436 passes compared with Saka’s 175, with the Frenchman’s 783 touches almost double the amount of his opponent too.
Finally, Dembele’s 38 shots are some way clear of Saka’s 14.
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However, the latter has spent a good chunk of the season injured.
Saka missed 19 matches with a hamstring injury suffered in December.
And as a result, he’s played five less games than Dembele’s 13 – which makes their output ratio a lot more even.
Saka’s all-round game as a pure right winger comes to the fore even more with his five tackles – two more than Dembele has made.
And in the transfer market, Saka is also head and shoulders above his rival.
According to Transfermarkt, the Arsenal star has a market value of £128million.
That figure leaves Dembele in the shade, with the Frenchman’s value just £64m.
However, PSG’s talisman has a much more impressive trophy haul.
Having also played for Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona, Dembele has raked in five league titles and eight domestic trophies.
But most impressively, the ace has also landed a World Cup after winning it in 2018 with France.
Saka does have a few trophies to his name though, helping himself to two Community Shields and an FA Cup during his time in London.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta know how crucial Saka is to his team’s hopes.
Arteta said: “He elevates the level of the team. It’s a fear factor every time he’s on the ball because he’s a real threat and on top of that he generates more space for the team.”
Dembele picked up a hamstring injury after scoring the only goal in PSG’s 1-0 win at Arsenal in the first leg last week.
But he is expected to be fit for toinight’s second leg, and PSG’s attacking wingback Achraf Hakimi is delighted on his return.
Hakimi said; “He is the type of player who makes you want to go to the stadium to watch because he is a genius on the ball, even if he doesn’t have many chances.
“He can change the course of the game so we are delighted to have him back in the team.”
Both Dembele and Saka have not yet won the Champions League.
And with a spot against Inter Milan waiting in the final, both stars will be going all-out to fire their teams to glory tonight.
