European soccer heavyweights clash in Champions League final

CNBC

2 days ago

Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain will meet at the UEFA Champions League final in Munich on Saturday to compete for club soccer's most prestigious trophy. For the Parisian team, a victory would cement the squad in the pantheon of soccer royalty.
Paris Saint-Germain, colloquially known as PSG, was once mediocrity personified. Before 2011, the team languished in the French soccer league Ligue 1 and twice narrowly escaped relegation to a lower division.
But 14 years ago, everything changed. Qatar Sports Investments, a state-backed subsidiary of Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, bought the team and injected billions of dollars. Superstars like Zlatan Ibrahimović and David Beckham joined in the early days of PSG's new era.
More recently, the Qatari cash brought in the tantalizing trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé. In the 14 seasons since the new ownership took hold, PSG has dominated its domestic league, winning Ligue 1 11 times.
espite clobbering the competition in France, a Champions League title has always evaded PSG. It was close in 2020, losing to German giant Bayern Munich in the final. Failure to bring home that trophy led neutral fans to dismiss its merits. PSG has long been considered the rich kid on the field, with fancy cleats but without the play to back it up.
Then came the summer of 2023, when PSG began its transformation. Messi and Neymar departed the French capital, with Mbappe soon following their lead. In came Spanish tactician Luis Enrique, who implemented a cultural revolution.
Gone were the days of superstar players and a reliance on individual skill and big moments to carry the team to victory. Cue young, tenacious talent who weren't as recognizable to fair-weather fans but were willing to graft and play as a team.
Out went the world's most recognized soccer name, Messi. In came the less sexy Georgian winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who's last name haunts soccer commentators around the globe.
"I think that the team has grown and reached an even higher level than what we were expecting," Enrique said in an interview with his club on Monday. "We all want to make history and to win Paris Saint-Germain's first-ever Champions League," he added.
Standing in the way of PSG's unprecedented success is a member of soccer's old guard, Inter Milan. Unlike PSG, Inter is more used to soccer's biggest stage, taking home the European championship three times in its vaunted history, most recently in 2010. Its last appearance in a Champions League final was just three seasons ago.
Despite his club's comfort in the limelight, its coach, Italian Simone Inzaghi, isn't underestimating the competition.
"PSG is an excellent team with incredibly strong players. They have quality, a coach who has instilled clear playing principles," the manager said at a press conference on Monday. "We will prepare as best as we can, knowing it will take a great Inter performance to win."
Inter will need to pull itself up from its bootstraps on Saturday after heartbreak a week ago. The Italian juggernaut narrowly missed out on winning its domestic league, pushing rivals Napoli to the brink and missing out on the Serie A championship, referred to as the "scudetto," by just one point.
But it'll be bolstered by the health of its captain and talisman, Argentine Lautaro Martínez. The 27-year-old World Cup winner is Inter's leading goal scorer this season in the Champions League, with nine goals in 14 matches.
Known for his tenacity and nicknamed "El Toro," Martínez shocked Barcelona in the semifinals by playing through injury and notching the opening goal in the second leg. Nearly a month later, Inzaghi said his star player was fit and raring to go despite not playing in Inter's final game of the Italian season.
But Inter isn't reliant on just its star player. Like PSG, Inter leaned on teamwork and organization to propel its success this season. Throughout all competitions, all 21 of Inter's outfield players have scored a goal, a nearly unprecedented statistic in modern soccer. Inzaghi believes that cooperation and camaraderie are what make his squad special this year.
"I like the way they stick together on the pitch: the joy in victories and the tears in defeats," Inzaghi said of his team. "In the final, there's no room for mistakes. … We'll need intensity, determination and all the qualities this team has shown throughout our journey."