Lee Kang-in will begin the Champions League final on the Paris Saint-Germain bench, with the South Korean midfielder left out of the starting lineup for the showdown against Arsenal. The final is set for Puskás Arena in Budapest, Hungary, at 1 a.m. Korean time on May 31.
That means Lee will wait for a chance to enter a match that PSG hope to turn into back-to-back European titles. The club is the defending champion and is chasing a feat no French team has managed before: consecutive Champions League crowns.
PSG’s starting side features Desire Doué, Ousmane Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia up front, with João Neves, Vitinha and Fabián Ruiz in midfield. The back four is Nuno Mendes, Willian Pacho, Marquinhos and Achraf Hakimi, with Matvey Safonov in goal.
Arsenal, meanwhile, will go with Kai Havertz as the lone striker, backed by Bukayo Saka, Martin Ødegaard and Leandro Trossard. Miles Lewis-Skelly and Declan Rice form the midfield pairing, while Piero Incaupi, Gabriel Magalhães, William Saliba and Cristian Mosquera sit in front of David Raya.
Lee’s place on the bench is the sharp edge of the team sheet. This is the biggest night in club football, yet PSG have chosen to start without him. Whether he gets on the pitch, and how much of the final he sees, will depend on how the match unfolds in Budapest.
PSG reached the final after beating Monaco, Chelsea, Liverpool and Bayern Munich in sequence, scoring 44 goals along the way and aiming to stretch a scoring run to 27 straight matches. If coach Enrique lifts the trophy, he would join Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola, Bob Paisley and Zinedine Zidane as only the fifth manager to win the Champions League three or more times.
Arsenal arrive with their own history pressing in from behind. The English club lost a dramatic comeback in the 2006 final to Barcelona in Paris and is still chasing its first Champions League title. A win would also complete a league-Champions League double and make Arsenal only the fourth English club to do it, after Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City.
