Luis Enrique has insisted Paris Saint-Germain's motivation to retain their Champions League title is greater than Arsenal's quest to be crowned European champions for the first time. The Spanish manager said the chance to become only the second team in the Champions League era to retain their crown, after Real Madrid, is a powerful driving force.
PSG demolished Inter 5-0 in last year's final in Munich and are strong favourites for Saturday's showdown at the Puskas Arena in Budapest. Arsenal have reached this stage for the first time since 2006, when they lost 2-1 to Barcelona, and manager Mikel Arteta caused a stir by declaring: 'We will be European champions on Saturday.'
Luis Enrique refused to say if Arteta's declaration provided extra motivation but stressed: 'Do you know how powerful trying to win the second one in a row is? It's bigger. So we're ahead.' He added: 'We have already gone down in the history books as one of the best teams in Europe. But you never know when you're going to be back in the Champions League final and you have to make the most of it.'
Ousmane Dembélé and Achraf Hakimi have been included in PSG's squad after recovering from injury, with Luis Enrique – who has won 11 of 12 finals as a manager – expected to select 10 of the team that started in Munich. Dembélé said: 'We're a young squad who are highly ambitious and we don't want to sit on our laurels. It would be something historic if we can pull it off.'
