Champions League Final: Ex-Bundesliga stars fight for UCL glory

PSG

The Parisians will hope to become only the second French club to win the Champions League. They only reached this stage once when they lost to Bayern Munich in the COVID-hit 2019-20 season.

Although they only stayed for limited times, PSG stars Achraf Hakimi and Ousmane Dembélé left their marks on the Bundesliga and Borussia Dortmund. And, they will also be among the most anticipated players in tonight’s clash.

Hakimi was very close to reaching 30 goal contributions in two seasons on loan, not to mention playing as a right-back. In his solitary season before a big-money move to Barcelona, Dembélé was instrumental when BVB won DFB Pokal eight years ago.

In his debut season, Willian Pacho played the most minutes in the competition. However, as Eintracht Frankfurt’s correspondent Christopher Michel reports, the Eagles will not receive any bonus payment because of the Ecuadorian and Randal Kolo Muani (on loan at Juventus) if PSG win the final.

Inter

PSG lost to Bayern in their only previous Champions League final appearance. On the contrary, the last time Inter won the competition, they beat Bayern to lift the trophy thanks to Diego Milito’s brace in 2010. Additionally, they knocked out Bundesliga’s Rekordmeister on their road to the final this term.

Their connection to the Bundesliga starts with both goalkeepers. While Josep Martínez only played two league games at RB Leipzig, Inter’s #1 Yann Sommer is a true Bundesliga legend.

The former Switzerland international won the Meisterschale with Bayern after the end of his eight-and-a-half-year spell at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Sommer won “Man of the Match” when Inter eliminated Barcelona in the second leg of a classic Champions League semi-final tie.

Like Sommer, Benjamin Pavard played a big part in knocking out his former club Bayern in the quarter-final as he scored Inter’s last goal in a 4-3 aggregate win. Pavard, who also played for Stuttgart, hasn’t featured since then, but he’s expected to be fully fit for the Allianz Arena showdown.

The French international could even start ahead of former Holstein Kiel and 1. FC Köln defender Yann Bisseck. In midfield, there will surely be two ex-Bundesliga stars in Inter’s starting XI.

Hakan Çalhanoğlu was a set-piece specialist in his time with Hamburger SV and Bayer Leverkusen. Alongside the Turkish international, the 36-year-old Henrikh Mkhitaryan is still going strong. However, his 2015-16 numbers as a Dortmund player always stand tall in his prolific career.

Thanks to his memorable time at Werder Bremen, Marko Arnautovic is another one with a Bundesliga past. And, a teammate of Sommer at ‘Gladbach, Marcus Thuram leads the line for the Nerazzurri with his captain Lautaro Martinez.