Zubimendi's Role in Arsenal's Champions League Final Strategy
On the eve of the biggest night of Arsenal’s modern era, Mikel Arteta is juggling more than tactics and team talks. He is wrestling with a selection puzzle that could define the Champions League final against PSG – and one name keeps circling back to the top of the page.
Martin Zubimendi.
The conversation started with a clip. On Thursday, UEFA dropped a video on X that quickly did the rounds: Spain away to Georgia last November, a 4-0 win in World Cup qualifying, and Zubimendi on the scoresheet. That alone would be a neat reminder of his quality. But the moment that really caught the eye came down the flank.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, in full stride, driving at his man. Zubimendi chased him, matched him, then cleanly took the ball off one of the game’s most devastating dribblers. No fuss, no drama. Just sharp reading of the situation and the conviction to execute.
Fast forward to tomorrow. Different shirt, different stadium, different stakes. But the assignment for Arsenal is eerily similar: stop a superstar winger who can rip a final wide open.
Timber doubt clouds the right flank
Arteta’s first-choice solution should have been straightforward. Jurrien Timber has the profile you want in a game like this: composed, athletic, brave on the ball. Yet the reality is far less simple.
Timber only returned to training this week and has not played a minute since mid-March, when he injured his groin against Everton. Being medically fit is one thing; being ready to walk into a Champions League final against one of the best wide players on the planet is something else entirely.
This is not a gentle reintroduction. This is a sprint start into the fire.
Cristhian Mosquera offers another route. A centre-back by trade, he brings height, strength and decent pace, but he is not a natural full-back and does not possess the same agility you would ideally want when faced with a world-class winger. He can cover ground, yes. Turning in tight spaces against elite dribblers is a different task.
So Arteta keeps circling back to the left-field option.
Zubimendi, the wildcard at right-back
Last Sunday at Crystal Palace, the first hint appeared. Team sheets dropped, and there it was: Zubimendi at right-back. No injury crisis, no obvious explanation. Just a tactical experiment from a manager who has never been afraid to redraw the lines of a player’s role.
To many, it felt random. To Arteta, it may have been a live rehearsal.
Zubimendi is a midfielder by trade, intelligent in his positioning, disciplined without the ball and comfortable defending large spaces. The UEFA clip of him stripping Kvaratskhelia only underlined what Arteta already knows: he has the instincts to defend one-v-one if asked to do it.
There is another layer to this. Zubimendi has recently lost his place in the centre of the pitch. Myles Lewis-Skelly’s resurgence has changed the balance of the midfield, with the young Englishman now strongly favoured to partner Declan Rice. Dropping Zubimendi entirely in a game of this magnitude would sting for Arteta, who has leaned heavily on his compatriot throughout the season.
Finding him a role at right-back could solve two problems at once: reinforce the flank against PSG’s star winger and keep a trusted lieutenant on the pitch.
Head versus heart on the biggest stage
Arteta’s dilemma is brutal. Timber is edging back but untested. Mosquera offers security in his natural position but less mobility out wide. Zubimendi brings tactical intelligence and big-game experience, yet would be stepping into a role that is still new at this level.
Right now, Mosquera feels like the safer pick. Timber’s absence from the squad at Palace last weekend was telling; if he was not ready then, it is a huge leap to throw him straight into a final. Logic suggests the centre-back starts, with Arsenal trusting their structure to protect him.
But Arteta is not a manager who always chooses the obvious path. He has already shown his hand once by trialling Zubimendi at right-back. He has seen the footage, lived the season with the Spaniard, and knows exactly how much he has contributed to getting Arsenal this far.
If Timber does not make it, nobody should be shocked if Zubimendi walks out in that right-back slot, tasked with shackling a superstar and tilting a final. On nights like this, careers – and seasons – can turn on one bold call.
