Champions League Final: Flair meets discipline as PSG face Inter Milan in a battle of contrasting styles
France's Paris Saint-Germain are set to face Italy's Inter Milan in the final of the Champions League on Saturday, May 31. The French champions, synonymous with flair, speed and agility, will be squaring off against the Italian runners-up Inter Milan, who are known for their tactical mettle and maturity on the ball.PSG are under the coaching of Spaniard Luis Enrique, where they have banished the star culture which was prevalent in the team. The project PSG, which brought Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe together hoping for a Champions League title, would never have believed in a thousand years that all it took to reach the final and start as the favourites was the abolishment of one thing they were known for.advertisementInter Milan, on the other hand, coached by the brilliant Simone Inzaghi, are in their second final in three years. Inzaghi's tactical brilliance has kept the ageing squad together. His mastery was proven in the two nights of the semi-final against Barcelona, where Inter ground out a win against the behemoth that the Blaugrana have been this season.
In sharp contrast, PSG swatted their way into the Champions League final, beating Arsenal in both legs of the semi-final. Success for PSG would make them the first French champions of Europe since bitter rivals Marseille in 1993, and finally reward years of huge investment from their Qatari backers, who bought a majority stake in the club in 2011.Inter face the prospect of a trophyless season after seeing Napoli pip them to the Serie A title. But Inter have shown they are a threat on the European stage after epic wins over Barcelona in the semi-finals and Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals.When you lose in training #UCLfinal pic.twitter.com/57kE6XmoPB— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 30, 2025advertisementHere's everything you need to know about the Champions League Final:Champions League final: TimingThe Champions League final between Inter Milan and PSG will kick off at 12:30 AM IST on June 1.Champions League final: Live streaming detailsIn India, the match will be livestreamed and broadcast by the Sony Sports Network.Champions League final: Players to look out forGeorgian winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has starred for the team since joining from Napoli in January. Bradley Barcola, Dsir Dou and Ousmane Dembl are chipping in the goals. The team has one of the world's best goalkeepers in Gianluigi Donnarumma, who is enjoying his best ever football at the moment.On the other hand, Inter count on Argentina star Lautaro Martnez to lead the team with his captaincy and goals. They also have some solid players in defence, led by their goalkeeper Yann Sommer, who single-handedly kept Inter from conceding a truckload of goals against Barcelona in the semi-final.Champions League final: VenueThe match will take place in Bayern Munich's 75,000-capacity home known as Allianz Arena.Champions League final: Possible line-upsPSG: Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Nuno Mendes; Joo Neves, Vitinha, Fabin Ruiz; Kvaratskhelia, Dembl, BarcolaInter Milan: Sommer; Pavard, Acerbi, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, alhanolu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Lautaro Martnez, ThuramChampions League final: Match FactsadvertisementPSG could become only the second French champion. The closest they came beforehand was the 2020 final lost to Bayern after a tournament restructured due to the pandemic.Inter's last success in 2010 ended their long wait since wins in 1964 and 1965. But they lost on their last appearance in the final, to Manchester City in 2023. This will be their seventh final altogether. They have won three and lost three so far.This will be the fifth European Cup final in Munich. Each of the previous four produced a first-time winner: Nottingham Forest in 1979, Marseille in 1993, Borussia Dortmund in 1997, and Chelsea in 2012.
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Hindustan Times
28 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Doué's sensational Champions League performance for PSG launches him into a new dimension
PARIS — Translate Désiré Doué's name into English and you get the words 'coveted' and 'gifted.' Both seem highly appropriate, considering how the 19-year-old's stunning performance for Paris Saint-Germain in Saturday's Champions League final launched him into soccer's stratosphere, making Doué a player every team would love to have. Doué scored with two clinical finishes in a 5-0 rout of Inter Milan after setting up PSG's first goal with a remarkable piece of close control. Controlling the ball on his left foot and spinning in one swift movement inside the penalty area, he then effortlessly switched feet and passed with his right to Achraf Hakimi. 'I really don't have the words to describe how I feel. What we did is magical. We showed we are a great side collectively,' said Doué, who turns 20 on Tuesday. 'There are a lot of young players in the side who still need to improve, I am among them." Doué improving is quite a scary thought, given how good he already is. When Doué joined PSG from Rennes for around 50 million euros in the offseason, it appeared a hefty fee for an unproven young player. Except for the fans who closely followed Ligue 1, he was largely unknown in France and beyond. Furthermore, his return of eight goals in 76 games hardly suggested he would become a dangerous scorer. But Rennes is one of the best youth academies in European soccer. Doué's PSG teammate Ousmane Dembélé came through the ranks there as did Mathys Tel before joining Bayern Munich. PSG coach Luis Enrique, who coached Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez and Neymar when Barcelona won the Champions League in 2015, saw a game-changing ability in Doué. He was proved right. Doué's emergence in the second part of the season saw him take goal-scoring winger Bradley Barcola's place in the starting lineup. It also coincided with PSG's revival in the Champions League after a difficult group stage where the club lost to Arsenal, Atletico Madrid and Bayern. Doué held his nerve in the penalty shootout win against Liverpool in March, scoring the decisive kick in emphatic style to send PSG into the quarterfinals. Later that month, he also scored for France in a penalty shootout win in the Nations League. Doué equalized in the quarterfinal first leg against Aston Villa in Paris and scored five goals in the competition. Overall he scored 15 goals for PSG this season, including spectacular curlers from outside the penalty area with his right foot. His silky close control, allied to an ability to wrong-foot defenders, made him a vital part of PSG's intricate approach play, particularly in confined spaces. His unorthodox dribbling is often brilliant, but does not always come off, so he reigned it in. 'I sometimes overdo it a bit, but I try to keep my personality. When you play, you know there are areas where you have to build, release the ball, and others where you have more freedom,' Doué said. "I analyze my matches and my training sessions a lot. I try to always maintain my discipline, and I hope that will take me to the very, very high level.' Doué said that back in April. On Saturday night he achieved it, and joined Barcelona's 17-year-old prodigy Lamine Yamal among the most coveted young players in world soccer. They could face each other on Thursday, when France plays Spain in the Nations League semifinals. Both have the soccer world at their feet. ___ soccer: /hub/soccer
India Today
an hour ago
- India Today
2 dead in wild Champions League final celebrations in France, over 500 arrested
More than 500 people were arrested by police during the Champions League final celebrations in France, and two people were reported dead and 192 injured, the interior ministry said as further festivities were planned on celebrations erupted across the French capital and beyond on Saturday night after Paris St Germain crushed Italian opponents Inter Milan to win the Champions League for the first interior ministry's provisional assessment on Sunday morning was that 559 people had been arrested, including 491 in Paris, which led to 320 people being placed in police custody, 254 of them in Paris. There was one fatal accident when a young man in his twenties died in a collision with a vehicle, police chief Laurent Nunez told reporters, while in the southwestern city of Dax, a 17-year-old died from stab wounds, French media reported."A judicial investigation will determine whether or not it (the fatality in Paris) can be linked to the celebrations. At this stage, it appears to be connected to the festivities," Nunez the boutique-lined Champs Elysees avenue, bus shelters were smashed and projectiles hurled at riot police, who fired tear gas and water cannon to push back surging crowds as thousands of supporters who descended on the interior ministry on Sunday reported hundreds of fires, including more than 200 vehicles burned. Some 22 members of the security forces and seven firefighters were warned that more skirmishes could occur on Sunday as PSG will parade on the Champs Elysees before celebrating the title with their fans at the Parc des Princes stadium."We're at halftime, so to speak, as this afternoon we have the parade taking place on the Champs Elysees," Nunez said."Only those attending the parade will be allowed on site. A maximum attendance of just over 100,000 people has been set — beyond that, no-one else will be allowed in."This evening, there will be a celebration at the Parc des Princes as well. We also expect gatherings around the Place de la Porte de Saint Cloud, and we will respond in the same measured but firm way should there be any attempts to block the ring road, attack law enforcement, or cause further damage."Paris had deployed 5,400 officers in anticipation of celebrations following a PSG win, Nunez had said on Reel
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
PSG achieve UCL dream: Led by the exciting Kvaratskhelia-Dembele-Doue trio, Luis Enrique could be building a dynasty
When the ticker-tape cannons exploded in Munich and the fireworks wormed into the night sky, PSG's delirious footballers clung onto the giant ears of the trophy, felt its curves and contours, and celebrated with joyous hysteria. This night was a dream and obsession, since the Qatari acquisition scaled up their ambitions. But rather than the realisation of a dream, the night breathed the vibes of a new beginning, the start of an era, the rise of a powerhouse in European football. The 5-0 thrashing of Inter Milan felt not so much as a triumph as a coronation. Paris, the city of arts and cafes, can now take pride in being the home of the strongest football club on the continent as well. Paris has abundant footballing riches. The city and its les banlieues have produced more talented footballers per square kilometre than most other metropolises in the world. Yet, absurdly, in the glitzy stage of European clubs, Paris was an afterthought, a comma or a semicolon to be paused and passed over. For decades, it has nourished football empires across the English Channel, in the Iberian peninsula and Bavaria, or over the Alps, past Mont Blanc, producing iconic footballers like Thierry Henry and Kylian Mbappe, its flag-bearers. But it did not have one of its own. It did not wield the awe and aura of Milan or Madrid, Amsterdam or Barcelona, Manchester or Liverpool. Paris has stormed into this rarefied space. The seeds of ambition were sown in 2011, when the Qatari state acquired the club, a competitive but not an elite side, their last title achieved in 1994. But the real journey began in 2023, when the vanity of the club owners had waned after staging the World Cup in their homeland. Then, they began to build a team, rather than stud the club with superstars. The ascent began in the summer of 2023 when Lionel Messi and Neymar left the club for America and Saudi Arabia, continued in 2024 when Kylian Mbappe departed, and gathered impetus this season, when the ideals of its visionary manager, Luis Enrique began to assume a bewilderingly brilliant form and shape. Luis Enrique 🏆#UCLfinal — UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 31, 2025 Superstars and their vestiges swept aside – centre back Marquinhos and Gianluigi Donnarumma remain their only link to the chaotically underperforming era – they invested wisely. Enrique's brief was simple: buy quick, young technicians, mostly from the city's sprawling talent pockets. The starting XI cost them 403 million pounds. The swift rebuild came at a cost, but the sum was a pittance considering that just three years ago, their front two of Neymar and Mbappe combined cost 400 millions pounds, and Messi earned roughly 30 million pounds a year. The revolving door for managers—four in three seasons—spun the impression of an upstart prince spending wantonly on his new toy. There was ambition and desire, but little purpose, or foresight and understanding of the sport's dynamics in Europe. The project was deeply flawed. Or perhaps, it was a sideshow, or an over-elaborate opening ceremony preluding the Qatar World Cup. Real football had to wait till the grand show was over, till there were no more distractions. The events that unfolded were the exact opposite of the events that had preceded the quadrennial tournament. A modern manager with a definite ideological faith was installed; he was vested with the powers to paint the team with his concepts, lavished the money to buy men of his liking, granted the authority to snub egos. In a different milieu, the management would not have tolerated Enrique's handling of Mbappe. From a highly individualistic, star-driven culture, it veered to the opposite spectrum, where system trumps stars, when the team was a sum of the collective parts, when function and flair coexisted, when there was no dispute over roles and spaces. magique #UCLfinal — UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) June 1, 2025 Nowhere on the field was the difference as brutally evident as the forward line. The trident of Neymar, Mbappe and Messi could waltz into an all-era dream team. But it seemed like an opera without a rhyme, a juxtaposition of antithetical characters, repelling in each other's shades. In delicious contrast, the triumvirate of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue spin, switch and shimmy with such devastating togetherness that they evoke memories of the Messi-Neymar-Luis Suarez trifecta Enrique had managed to glory in Barcelona. The tired and ageing legs of Inter Milan's back three could not contain neither their pace nor their trickery; the younger and quicker legs of Arsenal too could suffocate them; Aston Villa's defiance was ruthlessly dismembered; Liverpool's tactical traps were surgically avoided. Dembele, repurposed from a wasteful winger to a clinical false nine, netted 33 goals and assisted 15 times in 49 games this season. Kvaratskhelia, a ball-carrier of graceful athleticism, or ripping pace and bewildering control, contributed 12 goals and nine assists in 44 games. Desire Doue, only 19, chimed in with 15 goals and 16 assists. They not only filled the Mbappe-vacuum, but also contributed more defensively. Enrique showered praises on their defensive commitment before the final. 'If you analyse our defensive improvements, it is about the way our attackers defend. They do an exceptional job. You can see how many ball recoveries they have. This is one of the concepts that is hardest to instill because attackers have to change their mindset,' he pointed out. All three are young, Doue is 19, Kvaratskhelia is 24 and Dembele is 28. As is the dynamic midfield, who, like the forwards, swap roles and positions, occupying unusually advanced positions like Vitinha for the first goal. The Portuguese playmaker is 25, his accomplices Joao Neves and Fabian Ruiz are 20 and 29. Apart from Marquinhos (31), none of the backline is more than 26. There is ample squad depth too, to suggest that PSG would not be a one-season wonder, but would rather build an empire, as their merciless dismantling of Inter Milan portends. The night in Paris was not the culmination of a dream, but potentially the beginning of a Parisian dynasty in European club football.
