PSG showed us how game can be played but, sadly, how it's funded too
So there I was in the Allianz Arena, Doué-washed, Vitinha-washed, swept away by a team playing the game I love like no one has played it in years.
The morning after is like a hangover. Uneasy, with a tired head full of questions. Like, is the fun worth it? What's the damage? Is there another way to live?
This is where it feels football stands in the wake of Paris Saint-Germain's spectacular evisceration of Inter Milan. It was a performance for the ages, utterly captivating, and perhaps almost necessary — in a narrow sporting sense.
The game has been anaesthetised by over-coaching, with zealots from Pep Guardiola's positional school the guiltiest martinets of all. So it's a joy seeing Luis Enrique — yes, taking ideas from that school but staying loose and empowering players — giving us this young, daring, swaggering team.
But the wider picture is not so shiny. To get to its end point of victory and beauty, the PSG project involved a nation diverting £2billion of its natural gas wealth into paying transfer fees and more billions still to the highest wage bill in the game.
It has taken machinations of geopolitics and football politics, with PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi plotting a route to where he wields considerable influence over Uefa and the European Club Association. The system now works so well in PSG's favour that the club pocketed almost €1billion in Champions League revenue over the past decade to supplement its funding by Qatar. This makes it near-unstoppable in its domestic league. Twelve of the past 14 French titles went PSG's way and eight of the past 11 French Cups.
The objective of 'sportswashing' is to cleanse negatives. In one way, the Qatar-PSG project — like the Abu Dhabi-Manchester City one — has not worked. It has not sluiced away concerns about human rights and the country's regime. But in another way, perhaps it has. Watching Desiré Doué float into space and bend a match with his velvet feet, or Vitinha dominate midfield like a combo of N'Golo Kanté and Xavi Hernandez, you get caught in the moments. I would contend that if you love the game those moments are impossible not to enjoy.
You don't necessarily pan out and take in a longer span of time, the one comprising football's modern era. It's an era where one-club dominance in countries is commonplace, thanks to the same cocktail powering PSG: owner-funding and Uefa money.
In the match report for the final I said PSG have shown us the future, and I'd love that to be the case in terms of how the game is played, and profiles of the best players who play it, and best coaches who coach it. But, with hangover set in, I fear they also show us the future in how it will be funded too. By the richest, by the authorities, by an increasingly skewed slicing of the pie. Can we keep the football but find another way to live?
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Revealed: The tip-off that gives Maddie McCann police their last chance to keep Brueckner behind bars – as German FBI bring in radar to scour trenches and fields looking for the missing Brit girl
Land near the former home of the main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is to be searched by police this week. Last night roads were closed and tents set up between the resort in Portugal where the three-year-old vanished 18 years ago, and a house nearby where Christian Brueckner once lived. Prime suspect Brueckner, 48, is in prison in Germany serving seven years for rape and the request for yet another search was made by German police. At least 30 agents from Germany's FBI, the BKA, acted on a tip-off and arrived at the idyllic Portuguese resort. An investigating source told the Sun: 'Following Brueckner's trial last year someone contacted them with theories on where anyone who took Madeleine might've dumped her. 'They told cops about trenches that were dug in Praia at the time Madeleine disappeared, and the house where Brueckner had lived on the edge of the village. 'Of course, all of these places have been searched over and over again, but now they have a new weapon in their ground-scanning radar. It means they don't need to dig for the sake of it. But as soon as they spot anything of interest they are ready to excavate and check it.' They are equipped with ground-penetrating radar technology that can scan up to 15ft below the surface of the ground. A well-placed Portuguese source said: 'The search will take place on 21 privately owned pieces of land which in some cases are not fenced off. 'Wells, ruins and water storage tanks will be searched.' The operation on property between Praia da Luz and a rented cottage on the outskirts of the resort town where Brueckner lived for several years before 2007 is expected to continue until Friday – unless new evidence about Madeleine's disappearance is unearthed. German forensic officers will be accompanying the latest investigation, which will look into wells, ruins and water storage tanks in the area. Portugal's Policia Judiciaria, which has led the hunt for Madeleine, confirmed that the request to search the area was made by German authorities. A source added: 'The search warrant was issued by the Braunschweig Public Prosecutor's Office, which is conducting preliminary proceedings against a German citizen suspected of the murder of British citizen Madeleine Beth McCann, who disappeared from a holiday resort in Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007. 'All the evidence seized by the PJ will… be handed over to the agents of the German Federal Criminal Police Service.' It will be the first search in Portugal for more than two years, following a week-long operation involving Portuguese and German officers at a remote dam a 40-minute-drive from Praia da Luz. The searches in May 2023 at Arade Dam – a spot that Brueckner reportedly called his 'little paradise' – came to nothing. That followed a June 2014 operation when British police were given permission to carry out digs in Praia da Luz. Those digs were linked to a UK police theory that Madeleine died during a break-in and burglars hid her body nearby. Despite the use of sniffer dogs trained in detecting bodies and ground-penetrating radar, it also failed to produce any evidence pointing to the youngster's whereabouts. In a smaller operation in July 2020 Portuguese police and firefighters searched three wells for Madeleine's body but failed to find any trace of her. Brueckner is under investigation on suspicion of abduction and murder in the Madeleine case but has denied any involvement. While German investigators made the unusual move of naming him as a suspect in the case, he has not been charged. Brueckner's prison term is set to end with his release this September – much earlier than prosecutors had hoped for after he was acquitted of unrelated sexual offences last October. He is no longer being held in solitary confinement as he nears the end of his sentence. 'The clock is against the case here and investigators do not want to see Brueckner walk free,' a source told The Sun. A spokesman for Scotland Yard said that it was aware of the searches but it was not taking part in them.
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Reform-linked thinktank hires YouTube star in policy and PR push
A YouTube star has been hired by a thinktank supportive of Reform UK as it looks to strengthen Nigel Farage's policy agenda, Sky News can reveal. Archie Manners, a comedian and magician who has performed high-profile pranks on celebrities and Just Stop Oil activists, has been hired by Resolute 1850, which is planning to change its name to The Centre for a Better Britain. It is understood the 32-year-old, whose YouTube channel with fellow influencer Josh Pieters amassed more than one million subscribers, has been hired full-time and will provide social media and communications advice. The hiring of Mr Manners, who worked for Mr Farage during the general election campaign, indicates Reform is hoping to expand its already significant reach with young men. While most of Reform's supporters are still older white men, post-election analysis by YouGov found Reform was the third most popular choice for men aged 18-24, alongside the Green Party. Reform has also been quick to engage with social media platforms, including TikTok, which are popular with Gen Z. The party now boasts nearly 400,000 followers - more than any other major political party - while Mr Farage's own personal TikTok now has over a million followers. While independent of Reform, Resolute 1850 has strong links to the party through leading figures, including Jonathan Brown - the thinktank's chief executive and former Reform chief operations officer - who will also seek to raise funds through UK, and possibly, US donors. In its first guise as Resolute 1850 - which the Financial Times reported is a reference to the HMS Resolute Royal Navy ship whose timbers were used to make the US president's desk in the Oval Office - the thinktank said its mission was to "foster stronger transatlantic relationships and more effective governance". Mr Brown told Sky News that Resolute 1850, which is due to launch formally by the autumn, was changing its name to the Centre for a Better Britain because "we wanted to be clear on what it did on the tin". "What we hope to do is set a policy agenda for the centre right which acknowledges the dire financial state the country is in and the errors that have been made around net zero and pretty much every policy the Labour Party and the Conservative Party are pushing forward, and actually have a desire for a radical break with the consensus of the last 20 years," he added. "Our desire is to build up a proper policy base and not be fixated on culture war issues - but to actually look at proper economic fiscal policy, foreign affairs and defence. "There's been a lot of enthusiasm around it." Mr Brown sought to downplay comparisons between his outfit and equivalent US thinktanks that are independent but supportive of US President Donald Trump, saying the UK had its "own challenges and political climate". He said calling Resolute 1850 a British version of MAGA (Make America Great Again) was "easy" but that he "disagreed" with the comparison. 2:22 "The idea that we are some sort of UK branch of a US organisation is not true," he said. "We are independent." Mr Brown added that Resolute 1850 currently had no US donors and that most of its fundraising - understood to be in the region of £1m - had been secured domestically, but that he was open to donations from across the Atlantic. Rumours of US donations to Reform began circulating last year when it was reported that Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of Tesla and X, who has just left his role at the White House, was considering offering $100m (about £80m) to the party. However, the donation has not materialised and the relationship between Mr Farage and Mr Musk appears to have fractured after the tech tycoon called for Rupert Lowe, the ousted Reform MP, to replace Mr Farage as leader. The impending launch of the Centre for a Better Britain comes as Mr Farage looks to build his policy platform following his success at the May local elections, where Reform won control of 10 councils and picked up more than 670 councillors. At a speech on Tuesday, the Reform leader vowed to reverse cuts to winter fuel payments and scrap the two-child benefit cap while also outlining his ambition to increase the personal allowance from the current £12,750 to £20,000 year - something the Institute of Fiscal Studies suggest could cost between £50bn to £80bn a year. Mr Farage has argued such policies can be paid for through scrapping net zero commitments and by ending the use of asylum hotels - but Sir Keir Starmer said they would be "Liz Truss all over again". "He set out economic plans which contain billions upon billions of completely unfunded spending," the prime minister said last Thursday. "Precisely the sort of irresponsible splurge that sent your mortgage costs, your bills and the cost of living through the roof."
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Moment 'world's greatest' chess player loses his composure and slams his fist into the table after losing game
A seething Magnus Carlsen pounded his fist on the table after losing his first game of chess to an Indian world champion. The Norwegian grandmaster was unable to contain his anger during the classical game on Sunday June 1 in Stavanger. Startling footage shows the 34-year-old cause the entire table to shake as he unleashes a loud thud when faced with the victory of his opponent. A defeated Carlsen, dressed in blue jeans and a white shirt, then immediately apologises and shakes his rival Gukesh Donmaraju's hand. But a few seconds later he exclaims 'Oh my god!' while an emotional looking Donmaraju paces down the room with his hand covering his mouth. Carlsen pats the 19-year-old Indian chess grandmaster on the back before storming out. The tension comes as Carlsen had had his opponent on the ropes for much of the match in the Norway Chess 2025 tournament. But his composure cracked under the pressure of a ticking clock and he committed a blunder that handed Gukesh a decisive advantage. Startling footage shows the 34-year-old cause the entire table to shake as he unleashes a loud thud when faced with the victory of his opponent Speaking to Gukesh said: 'I mean, (the win was) not the way I wanted it to be, but okay, I'll take it. '... I've also banged a lot of tables in my career.' Carlsen remained top of the standings after the defeat. It is not the first time a chess tournament has caused him anger. In December 2024 Carlsen quit a major championship after being told he could not participate while wearing jeans. The Norwegian was defending his World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in New York when governing body FIDE made the request. He said he offered to change his trousers for the following day before being fined and told he needed to change straight away. Carlsen pulled out of the championships with the chess governing body issuing him a $200 fine after giving him an opportunity to change into the correct attire, which the rejected. However, after being told he would not be allowed to continue, he reportedly responded 'I'm out, f*** you'. Carlsen, world champion between 2013 and 2023, said he had a lunch meeting before the round and had to change quickly. 'I put on a shirt, jacket and honestly like I didn't even think about jeans, even changed my shoes,' Carlsen told Take Take Take, an app for following chess. 'I didn't even think about it. First of all, I got a fine which is fine, and then I got a warning that I would not be paired if I didn't go change my clothes. They said that I could do it after the third round today. 'I said "I'll change tomorrow if that's OK, I didn't even realise it today", but they said, "well you have to change now". At that point it became a bit of a matter of principle for me.' The 34-year-old added he would not appeal the decision, saying: 'Honestly, I am too old at this point to care too much. 'If this is what they want to do. I guess it goes both ways, right. 'Nobody wants to back down and this is where we are. It's fine by me. I'll probably head off to somewhere where the weather is a bit nicer than here.' The Norway Chess tournament began on May 26 and will conclude on June 6. It features an approximately £109,204 cash prize.
