On the cusp of UEFA Champions League glory, Paris Saint-Germain will seek every advantage they can get, even if it has no bearing on Saturday’s outcome.
This will be their second appearance in the competition’s final. Although French sides have struggled in the finals of major European competitions for years, there is one stat that may benefit the Ligue 1 champions this weekend.
Bayern Munich may have denied Les Parisiens their first Champions League trophy in 2020, but the city of Munich may serve as a good omen for them against Inter.
Saturday will be the fifth time the European Cup/Champions League final takes place in the German city, and on each of the previous four occasions, the winners of the big game wound up lifting the trophy for the first time.
Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest took the crown in Munich for the first time in 1979, beating Malmö. Olympique de Marseille beat AC Milan in the 1993 final. Borussia Dortmund won the title versus Juventus in Munich in 1997, and Chelsea beat Bayern on penalties to lift the trophy for the first time in 2012. In only one of those instances had their been two sides in the final that had never won the title before in 1979 between Notingham Forest and Malmö.
This weekend will also mark only the second time in the history of this competition that a French side faces an Italian team in the final, the previous time being in 1993 when a Basile Boli header lifted OM to the crown over the mighty Milan.
French clubs have only won two of their 15 major European finals, with the other being PSG’s claim of the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1996, achieved with a 1-0 win over Austrian side Rapid Wien, with Bruno Ngotty netting the only goal. Inter have lifted the Champions League trophy three times previously, the last one coming in 2010 under José Mourinho.
Saturday will be the first time PSG and Inter meet on the European stage.
GFFN | Joel Lefevre
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