It is often said that the clubs must suffer before they claim the Champions League, the most capricious club tournament in Europe. Both PSG and Inter Milan have suffered this decade, losing a final apiece. One, though, would put their heartbreaks to an end, while the other would return devastated after the final at Allianz Arena in Munich on Saturday night.

This much is certain: the final of varied and subtle layers would break the duopoly of Spanish and English clubs in the last decade. Between the two powerhouses, they have shared 10 trophies in the last eleven episodes. The night could potentially signify the rise of the French bloc in European club football. For their riveting success in international football, the last time a French club was crowned European champions was as far back as 1993, when Marseille beat AC Milan.

Similarly, Inter Milan lifting the trophy with cauliflower ears could be a kiss of life for Italian football, its glory long departed, its storied clubs tussling with bankruptcies and insolvencies and helplessly watching the talent drain. In the first 18 years of the Champions League era, Italian clubs featured in nine finals, winning five times. In the 14 since, they have only reached the final thrice, losing all.

But beyond the grand tropes of the triumph’s impact on Europe, it’s a clash of ideologies. Not the old narrative arc of Italian pragmatism and French artistry, there are artists and artisans on both sides but a contrast in the way both perceive the game. The team embodies different values and worlds.

The Italians are largely a chip off the old block. They operate with a front two, a classical poacher and a goal-scoring creator, an anomaly in modern football; a three-man defence, adept at the lost concept of man marker, is the soul of the side; a deep-lying playmaker forged in the fine Italian tradition pulls the midfield strings. Yet, they have adopted the Pep Guardiola-like ploy of centre-backs moving upfront in possession, with a pair of midfielders temporarily dropping back. They press aggressively too, but in spells.