Did strong EPL hurt Arsenal & weak Ligue 1 help PSG in Champions League final?
Christian Polanco of The Cooligans is joined by Christine Cupo to react to Saturday’s final and the Gunners’ disappointing defeat. Check out the full conversation on the “The Cooligans” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , YouTube , or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
Because do you realize how much Ligue 1 lacks parity?
The reason that PSG can do what they do with all of the money that they have all season long and make it look like a cakewalk- Yeah is because they have almost zero competitors in that league.
Sure.
They have z- There isn't they have zero competitors, but also, when you look at, this was brought up in the beginning of the broadcast, when you look up how many minutes, the, the, the players have played, throughout the season, Arsenal have logged an in- immense amount of minutes over PSG because, I think if you, also if you look up, Marquinhos, Marquinhos ba- he's like, "I don't play Ligue 1.
I'm done with that league.
I only play Champions League.
Uh- I have real no interest in, in this French stuff."
He's like, "This is..." Yeah.
"I pay attention to the important trophies."
'Cause they, they, once they wrapped up, Ligue 1, and not to say that they didn't run away with it, but they, I th- I think they won by like 12 or 15 points or something like that.
Yes.
And, but, but y- it's clear Luis Enrique's, like, mindset and decision is like, "Okay, I know what the important competition is."
They treat Ligue 1 like it's, like it's Carabao Cup.
And it's just like, all right.
Because you have the liberty of doing that.
Yeah, yeah.
Let's be real.
Like, day in, day out, the Prem is more competitive week over week than Ligue 1 is.
Yeah.
I, I- Okay?
You have some standout teams for sure, but it's just not the same, okay?
Right.
And again, we know that this has been the PSG project for season over season where it's been, we make this super team.
We've seen them fail, where they- Many times.
Yeah, yeah thought money could plug all the holes.
Plenty of times.
But this is where we're at right now, you know?
Yeah.
And, and it's, it The strategy, worked, and, look, I, I, there's nothing about the way Arsenal played that tells me that there was, like, fatigue.
I, I would say there wasn't any fatigue or anything.
it's harder to probably play the way they play, right?
Defending without the ball for so long- Yeah and so it, it, it stresses you, like, physically and psychologically.
It's a psychological test, for sure.
And quite frankly, I don't think there's anything that Arsenal have to not be proud of this season.
I agree, yeah.
That was remarkable.
I am, I am so proud of this team, and they should all hold their heads high.
Yeah.
It's just that this is what happens when you go to Champions League finals and you end up in PKs.
