Luis Enrique's starlets finally deliver elusive Champions League success for PSG

Daily Maverick

2 days ago

On Saturday, 31 May, Paris Saint-Germain thrashed Inter Milan in one of the most one-sided finals in history, thereby completing a historic treble.
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have finally arrived. That is the message France's best club sent to the world with an emphatic 5-0 win over Inter Milan in the European Champions League final in Munich.
PSG's youthful team ran riot against Inter's stalwarts, with teenage attacker Désiré Doué playing a starring role as he scored a brace.
On 63 minutes, when Doué scored his second goal (PSG's third), he nailed shell-shocked Inter's coffin shut. If the final had been a boxing match, this is when the referee would have intervened and halted the contest.
Instead, with this being a soccer match, PSG continued pummelling the Italians. By the time referee István Kovács blew his whistle just after 90 minutes, Inter were bruised, battered and embarrassed.
Statement win
The Parisians' remarkable victory is the biggest winning margin in a Champions League final. No team had won a Champions final by more than four goals before Inter were massacred in Munich.
This is what the Paris-based club has longed for since 2011, when Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) seized control of the side.
'Our aim is to make the club an institution respected around the world. If we are going to make that happen, we have to win the Champions League… Any team that wins it is seen differently by everyone else,' PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said a few years ago.
The club marginally survived relegation just three years before QSI took over. More than a decade and billions of euros later, this coveted title has been delivered, in just PSG's second Champions League final.
Player of the match Doué – who also laid on Achraf Hakimi's opening goal – was speechless after his peerless performance.
'I have no words. That was just incredible for me, simply incredible,' the 19-year-old said.
PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma had a day off in the final owing to Inter's toothless attack, but the shot stopper played a pivotal part in his team navigating the knockout stage in particular.
'We were almost out a few times during the season. Then we managed to progress and completed an extraordinary season. Our coach gave us freedom and kept us calm. This is his philosophy. He prepared the final in the best possible way, and we saw that,' Donnarumma raved.
Excellent Enrique
Luis Enrique does not always receive the plaudits he deserves as a manager. With the victory in Milan he joined an exclusive club — he and compatriot Pep Guardiola are the only coaches in European men's soccer to win two continental trebles.
PSG came into the decider having already clinched the French league title, as well as securing the Cup. They added the pièce de résistance in dominant fashion.
Guardiola guided Manchester City to their first Champions League success in similar style and authority in 2023 – adding to the treble he won with Barcelona in 2009. Enrique also completed his first treble with Barcelona, in 2015. Now he has added a second a decade later. This boosts the Spaniard's résumé significantly.
'I tried to keep the pressure down for a club that had never won the competition. Inter are a great side, but we were fantastic in our pressing. Every player improved this season and so did the team,' Enrique said.
'We prepared very well for this game to be at that level. The team was excellent; we pressed with high intensity. Ousmane Dembélé pressured their defenders and goalkeepers constantly,' the former midfielder continued.
'Since day one, I said I wanted to win important trophies and Paris had never won the Champions League. We did it for the first time. It's a great feeling to make many people happy.'
Crushed Inter
Juxtaposing PSG's unbridled elation is Inter's agony. The Milan club ended the season without a single major trophy. Bitter rivals Milan dumped them out of the Italian Cup semifinals, while Napoli pipped them to the league title by a single point.
Therefore, the Champions League was the last hope for Simone Inzaghi's side to salvage their season. Then PSG ruthlessly snuffed it out.
'Paris deserved to win this game and the trophy. We're disappointed, but the path to this point was great. As a coach, I am proud of my players. The game, of course, wasn't good enough on our part. We're disappointed, sad. The players gave their all,' Inzaghi stated.
While Inter lick their wounds, PSG have made a statement. Perennially peerless in France, they have finally arrived on the big stage.
With the young and famished team at Enrique's disposal, it feels as though the French outfit can finally transfer their domestic dominance to the continental stage.
New breed
PSG's young team achieved what the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé could not do in their colours as they became only the second French side to win the trophy after Olympique de Marseille in 1993.
'Making history was a goal from the start of last season,' Enrique said.
'I really felt a connection with the players and the fans, a very strong connection that we saw throughout the season. We were able to handle the tension and excitement in the best possible way.'
PSG put on a masterclass which the more experienced Inter team had no answer to, scoring twice in the opening 20 minutes through former Inter defender Achraf Hakimi and Doué.
Doué was on target again in the 63rd minute, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored 10 minutes later and substitute Senny Mayulu netted three minutes from time to complete the rout in Munich.
Before kick-off the Italian fans sang 'There's Only Inter', the club's anthem, but on the pitch their side went missing and PSG ran riot to secure a richly deserved win.
PSG bossed the game from the start, maintaining possession with slick passing, every player constantly searching for an opening, which they found in the 12th minute when Vitinha played a pass to Doué in the box.
Inter defenders appealed for offside but Federico Dimarco played the PSG man onside and the youngster kept his cool to roll the ball across goal and hand Hakimi the simplest of tap-ins.
'We have made history, we have written our names in the history of this club,' Hakimi said.
'For a long time this club deserved it, we are very happy. We have created a great family.'
The second came eight minutes later from a quick PSG counter which found Ousmane Dembele on the left wing.
Dembele drove forward before floating the ball to the far side and Doué had time to control the ball on his chest and his shot took a deflection off Dimarco to beat the wrong-footed Yann Sommer.
Game over
Inter had to try to attack in the second half but PSG killed off the game with a third goal when Vitinha slid the ball through to Doué in the area and the 19-year-old coolly slipped the ball past Sommer.
Inter were shell-shocked, but things only got worse.
Dembele's defence-splitting pass from his own half sent Kvaratskhelia haring away before he beat Sommer at his near post, a goal that brought the PSG bench, including Enrqiue, onto the pitch.
'He is the man who has changed everything at PSG. Since he came here, he has changed the way football is seen. He is a loyal man, he deserves it more than anyone else,' Hakimi said of Enrique.
PSG still had time for a fifth as Mayulu fired past Sommer from close range after a pass from substitute Bradley Barcola, and the final whistle was greeted with huge roars from the French fans who had been singing loudly throughout the game.
Inter had high hopes of making up for their defeat two years ago by Manchester City in Istanbul, but finished the season trophy-less.
'It absolutely didn't feel like my Inter out there, and the players are the first to know it, but I'm proud of the journey we've taken,' Inzaghi said.
Enrique, visibly emotional after the final whistle and wearing a T-shirt with a tribute to his daughter Xana, who died in 2019, has turned PSG from a side of superstars into a group of humble players finally playing as a team. DM