How to watch PSG-Inter Milan in 2025 UEFA Champions League final for free
New York Post may be compensated and/or receive an affiliate commission if you click or buy through our links. Featured pricing is subject to change.
36 teams entered the 2024-25 Champions League, now just two remain. Today, Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain will play for the Champions League title.
The final marks the first competitive match between the two teams, who have played five exhibition games against each other in the past. It's also the first Champions League final without a team from England, Spain, or Germany since the 2004 final between FC Porto and AS Monaco.
PSG could win its first Champions League title in its second appearance in club history (the team lost to Bayern Munich in the 2020 final), while Milan would win its fourth and first since 2010.
Advertisement
what to know about Inter vs. PSG Start time: 3 p.m. ET
3 p.m. ET Venue: Allianz Arena (Munich, Germany)
Allianz Arena (Munich, Germany) Channel: CBS
CBS Streaming: DIRECTV (five days free), Paramount+ (one week free), NordVPN
The winner of today's game automatically qualifies for the League Stage of the 2025-26 Champions League, in addition to advancing into the 2025 UEFA Super Cup match against Europa League champs Tottenham Hotspur and qualifying for the 2025 FIFA Intercontinental Cup and the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup.
Here's everything you need to know about today's Champions League final between Inter Milan and PSG, including how to tune in from anywhere.
What time is Inter vs. PSG today?
Advertisement
Today's Champions League final between Inter Milan and PSG begins at 3 p.m. ET (9 p.m. local time) today, May 31.
How to watch Inter Milan vs. PSG in the Champions League final for free:
If you don't have cable or a TV antenna, you'll need a live TV streaming service to stream the Champions League semifinals for free. One option we love is DIRECTV, which comes with five days free and starts at $84.99/month, with plenty of subscription options that include CBS.
The match will also stream live on Paramount+, which comes with a seven-day free trial, and in Spanish on ViX Premium, which also has a one-week free trial.
How to Watch Inter Milan vs. PSG from anywhere:
If you want to tune into the Inter Milan vs. PSG game from anywhere in the world, consider using a VPN. It's easy to use a VPN, which masks the IP address on your device and lets you select a new virtual location to stream from. Whether you're in the UK, Canada, Mexico or anywhere else in the world, you can access virtually anything using a VPN.
Advertisement
Our favorite is NordVPN, which is currently offering up to 76% off with plans starting at just $3.39/month.
Why Trust Post Wanted by the New York Post
This article was written by Angela Tricarico, Commerce Writer/Reporter for Post Wanted Shopping and New York Post's streaming property, Decider. Angela keeps readers up to date with cord-cutter-friendly deals, and information on how to watch your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and movies on every streaming service. Not only does Angela test and compare the streaming services she writes about to ensure readers are getting the best prices, but she's also a superfan specializing in the intersection of shopping, tech, sports, and pop culture. Prior to joining Decider and The New York Post in 2023, she wrote about streaming and consumer tech at Insider Reviews
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
17 minutes ago
- New York Times
We watched PSG win Champions League final with a professional head coach – here's what we learned
'They've scored five goals, but the defensive work was the key thing that won the game,' says Ian Cathro, verging on cliche. Paris Saint-Germain had just beaten Inter 5-0 in Munich, the biggest winning margin in a Champions League final but, while everyone marvelled at Desire Doue's brilliance, PSG's positional rotations and Vitinha's midfield orchestrating, Cathro's focus was elsewhere. Advertisement UEFA Pro Licence coaches watch the game differently. It's their job. Cathro — once an assistant to Nuno Espirito Santo at Rio Ave, Valencia, Wolverhampton Wanderers (where he coached PSG's Vitinha), Tottenham Hotspur and Al-Ittihad — this season led top-tier Portuguese side Estoril to their best finish in nine years. They forced the most offsides of any Primeira Liga team, ranked fourth for ball recoveries and sixth for final-third tackles. No wonder he admires PSG's out-of-possession approach. 'PSG's pressure has taken Inter out of their normal routines with the ball, and that's the thing that helps you grow into a final. When the magnitude of the game is higher, routines are more important. They've taken that away from them completely,' he says. 'Inter have a lot of mobility if you don't press the first ball circulation, but they can't get into funky positions if you start pressing them straight away — because they have to hold their spaces to take on that pressure.' He spots a detail with Achraf Hakimi's pressing on 23 minutes, just after PSG's second goal. 'As he was starting to run, he went three metres inside and stopped them slamming forward to a striker, forcing the ball to the wing-back (white arrow). That's when you know they've nailed the work, to stop those inside line passes (yellow arrow), they've never been unbalanced.' 'PSG are trying to press the ball outside and around. The break point would be if you were able to get the ball to the side and go diagonally in.' Inter could not in this instance. Joao Neves is too tight to Henrikh Mkhitaryan while Hakimi's pressure and readjustment blocks any inside pass, forcing Federico Dimarco long. Inter No 9 Lautaro Martinez has dropped deeper to try and support, with PSG centre-back Marquinhos staying touch-tight. Dimarco targets his strike partner, Marcus Thuram. Neves recovers and Willian Pacho closes Thuram to make a two-v-one for PSG. Neves tackles the France international. 'It's a lot of work,' Cathro says on coaching a high press. 'It's the most difficult bit to get to perfection. You're playing against highly proficient technical players with their own ideas.' When an almost identical pressing pattern happens eight minutes later, Cathro's praise switches to Vitinha. Dimarco is forced long once more, this time on his right foot, and Vitinha stays tight to Martinez before ducking as he reads that the striker won't be able to make the flick-on. The ball runs through to Marquinhos. 'What he has done there is excellent. Not competing for that ball, not letting that ball land, and now they can turn it into possession. PSG's pressing — the little details — has been really good.' In the second half, he lauds Ousmane Dembele for forcing Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer to kick long. 'So if he has to go and lift it, he's lifting it either across his body and he has to do it early — because you'll get close to his right foot — or you force him on his left.' Against PSG's press, Sommer hit nearly 43 per cent of passes long (his season average is 28 per cent in Serie A and the Champions League). Luis Enrique's side made the first contact on half of his long passes. One sequence, with PSG 4-0 up on 77 minutes, makes Cathro say 'wow' (none of the goals did). As Inter recycle into the middle from the right wing against a PSG low block, Vitinha presses substitute Kristjan Asllani when he receives Darmian's sideways pass. Cathro pointed out the mid-block pressing trigger in the first half: 'The ball going from one side to the other and then backwards. The PSG back-line gets as high as they can, which, compared to gradually dropping, changes so much.' Within three seconds, five PSG players have committed to press and centre-back Francesco Acerbi is facing his own goal — Dembele is on top of him. Inter end up playing all the way back to Sommer, PSG lock on and Dembele presses him into kicking long. Luis Enrique's side have stepped up so quickly that they catch Martinez offside. Five PSG players — including incoming substitute Lucas Hernandez — have already got their hands up appealing. I ask Cathro if he would clap or praise that same press from his Estoril side. 'Yeah, I'm rewarding that. I know it's not a goal, but that really needs to be rewarded because that's the intensity, concentration, and maintaining the focus. You know that that has such an impact on the opponent as well. It takes a lot away from them.' Advertisement 'I don't remember a situation where Inter have actually been able to pass feet-to-feet centrally while PSG have been pressing. PSG have really worked hard at taking away those lines inside, and they've forced predictable circulations of the ball, meaning they've been able to get closer and closer, force mistakes and regains. Their work against the ball has been exceptional.' His first-half critique of Inter is that they were 'close to passive'. He finds using the word as an absolute 'really offensive. It's not nice, but it was in that direction.' PSG completed over 100 passes inside the first 15 minutes — three sequences of 10+ passes — and Inter only recorded two tackles and two interceptions, content to slide and shuffle in their 5-3-2 block. Cathro's analysis was that Inter were 'actively trying to trap the ball on one side. They're sitting, they're allowing a fair bit. When somebody allows you to do something, that's because they're planning to do something to you. 'We've not seen one Inter counter-attacking situation from established PSG attacks. They regained it on the midfield line and slammed it forward to the two strikers once. 'They switched it to the right side and you thought, 'OK, maybe this is the counter that they're looking for'. They've not had a possession that's forced PSG to drop back into shape once. 'If they want to try and trap us on the same side, then I'd (PSG) be looking to repeat (attack again) that side with a different movement or a different mobility — try and profit from their plans.' 'Same side' is a phrase Cathro repeats a lot when talking about attacks, explaining how PSG reworked the situation down the left to create the cutback from Doue to Hakimi for the opening goal. Acerbi steps forward when Fabian Ruiz passes backwards to Vitinha. This makes space for a through ball to Doue, and the domino effect is that Dimarco (having played Doue onside) scrambles across to cover. He was marking Hakimi and ends up neither stopping the full-back nor blocking the cutback, and the Moroccan taps in. Quarter-final goal ✅Semi-final goal ✅Final goal ✅ Achraf Hakimi gives PSG an early lead in the Champions League final, but refuses to celebrate against his former side Inter ⚽ 📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 31, 2025 Cathro likes the word 'mobility' to describe full-backs and wingers interchanging, and says it is important, 'especially against a back three. When the outside centre-backs start to feel that they lose their references (for marking) — because there's a certain distance where they feel like, 'I'm controlling this one' and then there's the point where they're not controlling anyone directly — that creates that little gap'. Advertisement What would he have done if he were Simone Inzaghi? He caveats that 'there's definitely a non-tactical element in this,' and that a 'limited number of impactful things can happen'. The 38-year-old speaks from experience, having been Nuno's assistant at Rio Ave in May 2014 when they lost two domestic cup finals to Benfica and were behind at half-time in both. Tactically, his focus would be to 'get another player in the middle and try and force the middle of the pitch. See if that just forces PSG to have more doubts when they're pressing. Because if they have to run too far away from the middle or all midfielders need to be engaged in pressure, they may not feel comfortable, knowing that there's two strikers behind'. He points out it takes 27 minutes for a pass to stick from the back line into a striker — from Sommer looping a drop-kick into Thuram — before Inter work a wide triangle with two midfielders combining to put Denzel Dumfries into a crossing position. PSG cleared it but Thuram and Martinez were two-v-two in the box. Twelve of Inter's 19 crosses came from the right, and Cathro spots a pattern on 28 minutes that kept creating crossing positions down the right. 'That's two maybe, three times, that diagonal in-to-out run down the right has been made. PSG haven't been close enough to it and the cross has been possible. A lot of teams, when they're closer to their box in that situation, don't send the centre back — they send the midfielder. 'If Inter get into that position and are high enough up, that diagonal run for the ball down the line might leave a player free because the centre-back isn't going to want to come.' His less tactical solution owes to 'the Scottish part of my psyche. The Inter team — older, more experienced, more years, they can see the goal (trophy) — I'm surprised that there's not been a bigger kind of physical moment to try and reset the order of the game a little bit'. Advertisement Just getting to a higher position and staying there, having five minutes of more intensity, get against them, hit them. Sometimes you lose a ball higher up, somebody slips away and you go, 'You're going on the ground, my friend'. Create maybe a little bit of chaos. 'Get the referee involved in the game, from the point of view that you've got the experience to handle that and provoke them a little bit. Remind them that football has got other things to it — not everything is how you build up and how you press.' Cathro starts thinking about his half-time team talks from no earlier than 41 minutes in. In Luis Enrique's position, he says he would be demanding more 'same-side work, rather than trying to get around to the opposite side'. Inzaghi, Cathro thinks, should call on desperate measures in desperate times. 'Rip the piece of paper up and start again. I'd be adapting completely and I'd be going on top of them. 'He knows a point must come where this game has to be provoked in a completely different way. 'Inzaghi knows, if his team gets a little bit more unstable, you shoot (for a comeback) too soon and it rebounds, the game's over'. With the score unchanged at 60 minutes, PSG start to drop deeper and Cathro says his focus would be on pressing, 'because right now you're fighting the beginning of a comeback. Everything's got to come out (physically) in the next three to five minutes'. There are two minor, ultimately inconsequential moments, first from Joao Neves and then Nuno Mendes, which he quickly verbalises a dislike for. 'That would piss me off — Neves tried to half-volley a pass in behind. Because those little things could be like a virus. I'd be losing my voice making sure he looked at me for eye contact for a split second.' My head is actually in my notebook on 76 minutes because PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma has just caught an inswinging Inter corner and is laying on the ball. 'Nuno Mendes has just slapped an awful pass across the pitch, which would send me insane,' Cathro says. I look up and rewind. Under no real pressure, he underhit a Hollywood pass to substitute Bradley Barcola, and Inter are attacking again. But PSG are 4-0 up. Cathro says 'the game is over'. Why does it matter? 'You're trying to stay on top of this. You don't want s*** decisions to slip in, you don't want arrogance, you don't want the lack of concentration, you don't s****y bouncing passes. You want to be on it. 'I want 10 minutes of clean, controlled, stand-tall, chest-out, 'We are the champions, we will play that way'. No s***, don't want any s***e. It finishes 4-0.' Advertisement Only once does he take any real pleasure from an attacking action: Vitinha on 62 minutes when he sprints over to take a free kick short in PSG's own half. He plays one-twos with Hakimi and Marquinhos, the latter finding him with his back to goal against the press, and the No 6 turns before he splits Inter with a pass to Dembele's feet. Then he runs on to complete another one-two from Dembele's backheel, and threads through Doue with PSG on a three-v-two overload. The pass is so well weighted that the teenager, sprinting, can finish one-touch past Sommer at the near post. It's Desire Doue's world and we're just living in it 🌟 The 19-year-old makes it two goals and an assist in the Champions League final 🔥 📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 31, 2025 Presumably owing to the coaching Cathro gave Vitinha when he was on loan at Wolves in 2020-21? 'No, it's not! He'd done that himself, that goal,' he responds, enthusing about 'the intensity in all of his positioning and all of his actions and all his asks for the ball, deep in his own half, to then decide, 'I'll actually run forward'. It changed everything. I thought, 'Why are you running forward?' 'Technically, he had all of those things when he was at Wolves. The intensity he didn't have, or the taking responsibility aspect. It was just going through time. We didn't really do much for him. 'He certainly would have wanted a lot more out of his time at Wolves — you're a really talented kid that comes through an academy, always winning, always playing, then you arrive at a club and Joao Moutinho and Ruben Neves are the two midfielders, so you're not playing. They're playing, and it's as simple as that. Because they're better. 'But it was an important year for him. He probably needed the difficulty and the sort of realisation of how difficult it is, and that's probably what happened. He grew up a lot, it got him ready for when he went back to Porto and he really excelled.' Cathro summarises it as 'a game where a team playing fearless and being themselves outdoes the more wise, strategic approach — I think that's healthy for football. 'PSG finally winning with this team is also healthy. A young, hungry, obviously highly talented, high-potential team, that functions a lot more as a team.' Advertisement When the camera cuts to a crestfallen Inzaghi, I ask if coaches naturally empathise with others in those difficult moments. 'Everybody watching this game knows that this is a good Inter team and a fully-grown man who knows exactly what he's doing — he doesn't need anybody's pity.' It is not unempathetic but the cut-throat realism that elite coaches need. 'It's been a game of football and it's fallen to a certain side because of maybe three or four things. You're on the wrong side of it today, mate. Life goes on.' What does he reckon Inzaghi's thinking right before the final whistle? 'I'm wanting the press conference to finish and I want to go on holiday.'
New York Times
17 minutes ago
- New York Times
Champions League 2024-25 review: Games of the tournament, best players and predictions for next season
On Saturday, the curtain fell on the 2024-25 Champions League. And if it feels like this iteration of European football's premier club cup competition was more action-packed than ever, then there's a good reason for that. This was the first edition of Europe' premier club competition with an expanded new format featuring a league phase rather than a traditional group stage and, without counting the qualifying rounds, the total number of matches played rose from 125 to 189. Advertisement Remembering even every crucial moment from Paris Saint-Germain's 5-0 triumph over Inter in Munich during the weekend's final is difficult enough. Nonetheless, we challenged five writers to reflect on their favourite moments and games from this season's competition, nominate their goals and players of the tournament, and make a few far-too-early predictions for 2025-26. Ahmed Walid, Seb Stafford-Bloor, Michael Cox, Mark Carey and Dermot Corrigan were up to the task. Walid: Julian Alvarez's penalty in the shootout against Real Madrid in the round of 16. It was a surreal moment as cameras kept replaying Alvarez's penalty to check whether a double-touch had occurred. As referee Szymon Marciniak was speaking with the VAR, Madrid players held up two fingers to the official standing with the teams on the halfway line. The penalty was ruled out and meant that Atletico Madrid went from being tied 2-2 in the spot-kicks that would decide the game to 3-1 down, and went on to lose. It seems that luck is rarely on Atletico's side. Stafford-Bloor: Francesco Acerbi's equaliser against Barcelona in the semi-finals. Acerbi was so far forward and out of context that initially I didn't recognise him. I thought he was some veteran Italian forward — a Marco Borriello regen, perhaps. As a goal, it was also absurd. Somehow, with a lead so late in the game, Barcelona's defenders were left four-on-five at the back, with the covering midfield not even in the frame. Great moments should always possess an inexplicable quality and this one had plenty of those. Maybe employ some rest defence next time, Hansi? Cox: Declan Rice's second free kick against Real Madrid. There's something thrilling about watching an individual doing something spectacular, then shaping up to do the same thing again. It felt like watching a fast bowler steaming in for a hat-trick or a pole-vaulter being assured of victory on the day and trying to set a world record. Carey: I am going to go for a strike that was almost the goal of the competition. Barely 90 seconds after Lamine Yamal curled in the outrageous effort into the far corner for Barcelona in their semi-final first leg with Inter Milan, he received the ball again for another wave of attack. Squaring up Federico Dimarco, Yamal drove to the byline before chopping back — nearly sending Dimarco out of the stadium — taking a touch, and rifling the ball at goal from the tightest of angles. Somehow, Yann Sommer got fingertips on it to push the effort onto the bar. Had Yamal scored, it would have been one of the most memorable Champions League moments – for a teenager to have single-handedly dragged their team back into the game in the blink of an eye. Advertisement Corrigan: It has to be Inter centre-back Francesco Acerbi's tremendous equaliser against Barcelona in the 95th minute of their semi-final second leg. The goal was so brilliantly taken — a true top-class striker's run and finish high past the keeper at the near post — that for a moment, as Acerbi whipped off his jersey to celebrate, it seemed impossible that it had actually been the veteran defender who had scored it. Acerbi shouldn't really have been up in the Barcelona penalty area at that moment but then, for a long time it did not seem he would ever be anywhere close to a Champions League final either, given he almost retired in his early twenties and then twice beat testicular cancer. Walid: There's no competition here: it has to be Inter 4-3 Barcelona at San Siro. It's a game that ebbed and flowed, and kept you on the edge of your seat. The first half was all Inter as their transitional threat gave them a two-goal lead. In the second half, Hansi Flick's side came back to life and did the most damage from the wide areas, with Yamal putting on another unstoppable performance. Barcelona's surprise hero, though, was left-back Gerard Martin who provided two assists to make it 2-2. After Acerbi's dramatic equaliser, Simone Inzaghi's substitutes made the difference in extra time: Mehdi Taremi proved to be an effective outlet for Sommer's long balls, which, alongside Davide Frattesi's runs into the penalty area, led to Inter's eventual winner. Stafford-Bloor: Well, Inter vs Barcelona, naturally. But for the sake of variety, I'll say Borussia Dortmund vs Barcelona in the previous round. Truthfully, at 4-0 down after the first leg, Dortmund were dead and buried before they came back to the Westfalenstadion. And yet strange things happened that night. Dortmund played with a relentless intensity, pummelling Barcelona and very, very nearly finding a way to come all the way back. BVB went out on their shield. And, after a difficult season, their fans really appreciated how much the team gave in pursuit of that lost cause. Advertisement Cox: It really has to be Inter 4-3 Barcelona — non-stop drama, twists and turns, and somehow even better than the first leg. Carey: I think anyone who does not say Inter vs Barcelona would be lying, but Hansi Flick's side have been in their fair share of thrillers in this year's competition. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the near-comical scenes in Barcelona's league phase game against Benfica in January, where a 96th-minute winner from Raphinha clinched the game, securing a 5-4 victory in the pouring rain. Hilariously, Barcelona were 4-2 down after 75 minutes, but their comeback typified their season under Flick — a 'we'll score more than you' approach that makes for box-office viewing. Corrigan: Both Barcelona-Inter semi-final legs were fantastically exciting. But for all-round quality of performance, Paris Saint-Germain's displays across their last-16 matches against Liverpool stick in the mind. PSG were incredibly unlucky in the first leg, pummelling Liverpool with some brilliant and cohesive attacking football only to lose 1-0. Many assumed they had lost their chance of progressing, but Luis Enrique's team showed super-impressive composure, organisation and talent in the return at Anfield. Liverpool played a full part in the second leg and PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was superb during the game as well as in the decisive penalty shootout. But for much of the tie, they reached a level that no other team in this year's competition has been capable of. Walid: Vitinha. The Portuguese midfielder can do it all. And, in this Champions League campaign, he did. Defensively, his positioning is impeccable, he is more than happy to go into duels and mops up second balls like Pac-Man on a mission. In addition, Vitinha is a crucial part of PSG's pressing and counter-pressing alongside his midfield partners, Joao Neves and Fabian Ruiz. Advertisement On the ball, he dictates the tempo of PSG's attack and pings passes through the opponent's block, while participating in the fluid rotations in the final third, with his off-ball movement being vital. Stafford-Bloor: The player I have most enjoyed watching? Maybe Denzel Dumfries. There are more obvious reasons as to why Inter reached the final, but Dumfries is such a spectacle of a player and such a force in games. Cox: Raphinha. Most goals, most assists. What more do you want? I was in Barcelona to see their 4-1 thrashing of Bayern in the league phase and was amazed by how effective he was at running in behind. I liked him at Leeds but no one expected this. Carey: There is just something about watching a midfield technician utterly control the tempo of a game. Barcelona's Pedri is an exceptional player to watch but, given PSG won the competition, I will go with Vitinha. No player attempted more passes in the whole competition this season — the 25-year-old dictates everything from the middle of the field. Give him the ball in any situation and he will look after possession as though his life depends on it. He has been a joy to watch this year. Corrigan: Vitinha always just seems to be where PSG need him — available to take a pass from team-mates, then moving the ball on simply but effectively, and then being in the right place to intervene if his team loses it and the opposition counter-attack. It's not flashy but it's been absolutely crucial to how PSG have played. The assist for PSG's third goal in the final, with Vitinha involved four times before giving the final pass for Desire Doue, summed up his omnipresence through the tournament. Walid: The league stage had some incredible goals such as Malik Tillman's 90th-minute strike in PSV's 3-2 comeback against Shakhtar Donetsk, Michael Olise's slaloming run for Bayern Munich against the same team or Wilfried Singo's piledriver for Monaco against Red Star Belgrade, but knockout goals are more valuable. Advertisement That's why I went with Ousmane Dembele's strike against Arsenal in the first leg of the semi-finals. The France forward's finish still looks nice despite it being hit with the shin, but it's the build-up of the move that catches the eye. PSG cut through Arsenal's block with smart off-ball movement and Dembele dropping into midfield to attack the vacant space before combining with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to score the winner. WHAT A STRIKE FROM OUSMANE DEMBELE 💥 PSG go ahead quickly at the Emirates thanks to the Frenchman's goal#UCLonPrime — Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) April 29, 2025 Stafford-Bloor: Lamine Yamal vs Inter. Semi-final, first leg. Cox: I really enjoyed Lautaro Martinez's stabbed outside-of-the-foot finish against Bayern, from Marcus Thuram's backheel into his path. You don't see many strike partnerships these days. When you have two centre-forwards on the same wavelength, it's beautiful. Carey: Maybe this has an English bias to it but John Duran's goal for Aston Villa against Bayern Munich was memorable for two reasons. The first point is that it was simply an impressive first-time effort from range, with Duran lofting the ball over a poorly-positioned Manuel Neuer after a direct ball upfield from Pau Torres. The second is that the goal secured a 1-0 victory over Bayern, which was the same scoreline that saw them clinch the European Cup in 1982. Considering this was Villa's first campaign back in the Champions League (or equivalent) for more than 40 years, it was a goal that had great importance within the wider history of the competition — even if there have been more aesthetically pleasing strikes this year. WHAT HAVE WE JUST WITNESSED 🔥 Has Jhon Durán just delivered the moment of the night?! 😮💨 📺 Watch @tntsports and @discoveryplusUK — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) October 2, 2024 Corrigan: Lamine Yamal's goal to drag Barcelona back into the semi-final first leg against Inter was tremendous. But for pure take-your-breath-away skill level, I'll go with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia's stunner against Aston Villa in the quarter-final first leg. Kvaratskhelia picked up the ball near halfway, out wide, and seemed to sense a special goal was on, driving forward with lethal intent. The mix of the slow-motion roll of the ball with the studs of his right boot to befuddle poor Axel Disasi and the thunderous power of the left-foot finish past the head of Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was pure poetry. There's no stopping Kvaratskhelia in that position 💨 What a goal 👏 📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK — Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 9, 2025 Walid: I wasn't really excited for this new format but I'm happy to say I was wrong. The league stage offered exciting match-ups compared to last season's group stage and that's without taking into account the jeopardy on the final matchday. Aston Villa's return to the Champions League featured a replay of the 1982 final against Bayern Munich, Inter faced Arsenal for only the third time ever, and many more fixtures that provided a breath of fresh air. Advertisement On top of that, we saw Liverpool beat Real Madrid 2-0, Barcelona's thrilling 4-1 victory against Bayern and PSG's incredible 4-2 comeback against Manchester City. It's fitting that the final was between two sides who have never faced each other before. Stafford-Bloor: I still think it was a downgrade because the fatty middle of the group stage did feel inconsequential. For instance, PSG were largely poor through the first few rounds and yet winning one of their first five games carried little jeopardy. That's why the competition was reformatted — to ensure that none of the cash cow teams crashed out too early — so in that sense, it was a success for UEFA, but from a spectator's point of view, I needed a bit more engagement. Cox: I didn't love it. I found it tougher than usual to follow the tournament. Individual matches didn't seem to feel quite as important — in the traditional group stage, part of the value of a win is harming your opponent, which is less of a factor in one big league. The final day wasn't as exciting as everyone seemed to hope, and then the bracket part wasn't quite as 'fair' as expected based upon the league placings, because there was a draw involved, which itself was a bit confusing. I also don't really like some sides playing more matches than others because of the play-off round; I don't think top-level footballers needed yet more fixtures. In fact, the more I think about it, the less I liked it. Carey: The fact that Liverpool topped the entire league phase before being drawn against PSG in the last 16 did make a mockery of the new format, in truth. At this level of elite football, there are no easy teams, but it did suggest that there is no huge incentive to finish as high as possible to guarantee an easier draw in the knockout phase. Aside from that, it was a positive that we saw more heavyweight clashes in the league phase but I did find it trickier to keep track of some of the best games when many of them were on simultaneously. Ultimately, six of last year's quarter-finalists reached the last eight again this year, so the cream always rises to the top, no matter what format you have. Advertisement Corrigan: There was some novelty to the league format last autumn and some extra excitement, with PSG, Real Madrid and Manchester City struggling to qualify. They all did make it through, though. Football's biggest problem remains that there are just too many games to fit into the calendar at the moment. Given the new format added more — two in the group stages and then an added knockout round in January — it just has to be a step in the wrong direction for the game in general. Walid: By matchday six, PSG were lingering in 25th place with four points after losing to Arsenal, Atletico and Bayern, and in no way playing like the tournament's winners. Three impressive victories against Red Bull Salzburg, City and Stuttgart ensured their qualification to the play-off round. Their upturn in form coincided with Luis Enrique altering Dembele's role from right winger to centre-forward, with the Frenchman operating as a false nine. Dembele's role was crucial in the 1-0 victories away to Liverpool and Arsenal in the knockout stages, where the French side got past another Premier League team in Villa. PSG's transformation during the competition from a team on the edge of being knocked out of the league phase to a deserving first-time Champions League winner wasn't on the agenda. Stafford-Bloor: Bayer Leverkusen. They were not good at all. A humbling 4-0 defeat at Anfield in November was probably the low point — possibly that awful 2-1 loss to Atletico Madrid in Spain in January – but much of the campaign was tinged with a 'they're better than this' wistfulness. There were injuries, most crucially to Florian Wirtz in the first leg against Bayern, but they never showed their power or much of what had made them such a worthy German champion the year before. It was a meagre effort full of naivety. Cox: We take this for granted now but Manchester City were the bookmakers' favourites to win the competition. They slumped to 22nd and then were absolutely thrashed by a Real Madrid side who were actually quite mediocre this season. Carey: Just how incredible Inter Milan's defensive unit has been this season. In their route to the final, Simone Inzaghi's side have been in a losing position for just 16 minutes — just one per cent of their total time on the pitch. Advertisement When considering they have played against Arsenal, Manchester City, Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, and Barcelona (both across two legs), that is a remarkable feat that would be hard for any side to replicate — let alone when you factor in the extra two games in this year's format. Corrigan: It was surprising to see just how awfully Girona's first-ever appearance in the competition was managed — from start to finish. First, many of the best players who achieved the qualification were immediately moved on, and then not adequately replaced by the ownership (in which City Football Group has the biggest share). Coach Michel and the team did their best in the circumstances. They had a tough draw and were dreadfully unlucky in early defeats to PSG and Feyenoord, but seven defeats in eight games meant it was depressing by the end. Local fans were also upset at how ticketing was organised, with empty seats in temporary stands at their Montilivi ground for most games. It all should bring further questioning of the viability of multi-club ownership in top club football, although it almost certainly won't. Walid: It's summer 2025 and it's quite impossible to name a winner. However, just for fun, I am going with Barcelona. In the 2024-25 edition, they could have easily been in the final if not for Sommer's heroics and a matter of inches here or there. Their risky style of play makes matches entertaining and their talented squad is a pleasure to watch. Yamal will only get better next season, Pedri will still be there, Pau Cubarsi will gain more experience and Marc Casado will be available after missing the quarter and semi-finals because of injury. Hansi Flick's side have been brilliant this season, and there's room to build on that. Advertisement Stafford-Bloor: Liverpool. Battled-hardened and confident from winning the Premier League, and on the verge of a ludicrously successful transfer window. Cox: Barcelona came very close to making the final with a very young squad — the two Poles at either end of the pitch excepted — and you'd expect them to improve next season. Carey: Real Madrid don't take too kindly to being knocked out of Europe, so you would imagine that Xabi Alonso's No 1 remit will be to get them back on their European perch at the first time of asking. That answer doesn't necessarily follow too much logic based on how things might look on the field. But when have Madrid and logic ever gone hand-in-hand in European competition? Corrigan: It is far too early, but Real Madrid jumped into my head. They were an awful mess this season but Carlo Ancelotti was also really unlucky with injuries, especially in defence. Xabi Alonso's arrival as coach has really changed the mood at the Bernabeu. If he can persuade Madrid's hierarchy to sign a new deep midfielder, in the mould of a young Alonso himself, then they should be right back in the reckoning next season.
New York Times
22 minutes ago
- New York Times
There's much to like about PSG stars – but conflict in watching Champions League win
Football is not demarcated by black and white any more; not since colour television sent broadcast rights spiralling and the Champions League ball was stitched from a shade named 'solar slime'. There is plenty to like about Paris Saint-Germain, European champions for the first time in their history. Advertisement Their manager, Luis Enrique, is a kind man and an innovative coach, whose personal success is all the more gratifying for the tragedies suffered by his family. In Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Desire Doue and Bradley Barcola, they have a trio of wingers who play with the joy and verve of mountain springs made human. Over his career, Ousmane Dembele has been tossed on a sea of troubles, and at times sunk beneath its waters, but resurfaced to realise his sparkling potential. For more than a decade in this competition, PSG fans have been left blinking back tears of frustration many times more than tears of joy. In the microcosm, every player, staff member, and yes, possibly even executive, has their own individual story of overcoming and toil which, on Saturday night, was realised in the glare of a thousand camera flashes. Some would have you believe that this narrative extends to the macrocosm, and what PSG represent in an increasingly worldwide game. Globalisation is a good thing; it has given Georgia its Champions League hero, it has formed Paris' uniquely diverse footballing culture. For them — as PSG's president, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, congratulated his players on the podium — this was the moment that plucky Qatar, a nation of fewer than three million inhabitants, repaid its 14-year investment in a club with boundless untapped potential. Dumped out in the group stages of their home World Cup, this was the moment the country's sporting muscles were flexed, as confetti fell to crown just the second state-backed club to have won the Champions League. But not many would recognise that understanding of events. Football is aware that Qatar has tooled sport to obscure the brutality of its human rights record and to market its fossil fuel investments. But football, like other big business, is not governed by those misgivings. So there is conflict for many when watching the celebrations unfold. PSG's performance in their 5-0 win was moving in its elegance, a triumph of technical skill, industry, and bravery. Inter were dissected by an artist's sharp palette knife. But the club are still indelibly linked to the abuses of their nation-state owners — from the Qatar Airways badge on their shirts to the transfer fees for their constellation of starlets. Expect to see their image, lifting the giant silver trophy, on a Qatar Airways poster near you. This is cultural capital that money can buy. Remember that while PSG may have shifted their strategy towards young talent rather than galacticos, that talent did not come for free — they spent €240million (£202m; $272m) on new signings this season, on the back of €455m one year before. In its footballing strategy, this was a fully realised version of the much-maligned Chelsea project. Advertisement Of course, football is no Eden without its state-owned teams. The blitz of money which American hedge-fund investors are throwing towards the Premier League is not without its problems. Elsewhere, organised crime still has its tendrils in many parts of the sport across the globe, and the misty-eyed reverence for benevolent local tycoons is a notion that went extinct before the Tasmanian tiger. Clearly, the Glazer family are not good for football — but equally, they are not attempting to obscure the unexplained deaths of thousands of their migrant employees. PSG's Champions League win is a victory for every individual involved, for their own perseverance and ability. But every person, at once, carries both what we ourselves are and we as ourselves represent. As a collective, PSG's victory stands for something very different indeed.
