See if you can remember the last time both teams scored in the UEFA Champions League final: What rings a bell?
It wasn't last year, of course, with Paris Saint-Germain's 5-0 demolition of Inter Milan being the most lopsided final of all time. The year prior, it seemed like Borussia Dortmund scored a couple of times in the first half against Real Madrid, but they didn't.
In 2023, Romelu Lukaku accidentally blocked a shot by his teammate to keep Inter Milan off the board. In 2022, Thibault Courtois was named Man of the Match precisely because he prevented Liverpool from scoring a goal.
No, the last time both teams scored in the Champions League final, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were still playing for Madrid and Barcelona, Fabian Delph was starting for the team that won the Premier League, no one outside of Norway yet knew who Erling Haaland was, and Lamine Yamal was 10 years old.
Dejan Lovren headed a long corner back toward the near post, and a sliding Sadio Mané beat Marcelo and Keylor Navas to the second ball. That put Liverpool level with Real Madrid in 2018 final, 1-1, in the 55th minute -- before Gareth Bale was subbed on, scored twice for Madrid, and effectively ended Loris Karius' career at the top level of European soccer.
But even though Liverpool scored in that game, Madrid still won by two goals and it didn't feel particularly close for much of the match. So, when was the last time we had a truly "good" game? You know, one where both teams score and the winner only wins by one?
For that, we'd have to go back to Bayern Munich's 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund in... 2013. There was also Real Madrid's shootout victory over Atletico Madrid after a 1-1 draw back in 2015-16.
We have this tournament, which is supposed to be the pinnacle of the most popular sport in the world -- the only place where all of the best teams and players compete directly against each other, with career-defining stakes. And yet, the showpiece for said tournament -- the game that decides the winner and theoretically pits two of the best teams in the world against each other -- hasn't been genuinely competitive in at least a decade.
Ahead of Saturday's final between PSG and Arsenal, we have to ask: That seems like a problem, doesn't it?
Why do tournament finals disappoint?
If you think about all the major American sports -- baseball, basketball and football -- there's a similar issue.