From Final to Final: Five Years in the Making

Yahoo

3 days ago

Paris Saint-Germain is in the 2025 UEFA Champions League final. If you had told someone that was going to happen just one year ago, they would have probably snickered at you. Because just one year ago, the club's most talented star announced he was leaving the team for allegedly greener pastures. After years of speculation, denials, renewals, and tantrums, Kylian Mbappé officially abandoned the capital of France for the capital of Spain. Seeing as Mbappé was the only thing still holding up the Parisian project, many expected a deep decline and years in the footballing wilderness. Those people weren't paying attention at all. And while some knew that PSG's solid project would survive and eventually thrive, none of them could have imagined the rapid success that the club had achieved in a short 12 months.
On January 22, at around 22:15 in France, absolutely nobody would have bet on what would have happened next. Down 2-0 at home to a struggling City side that hardly deserved such luck, it appeared the campaign for glory would not even reach the knockout stage. That is, until Bradley Barcola nutmegged Mathias Nunes, and the paradigm of European Football completely shifted. From that point, Paris has been an unstoppable train headed to Munich, where they will face Inter Milan for a chance at the club's first Champions League Trophy. And again, while some might call what PSG have done an 'overnight' success. This story is five years in the making and started the last time Paris Saint-Germain made a Champions League Final, on August 23, 2020.
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The Final Against Bayern
Matt Childs/Pool via Getty Images
During the COVID-19 pandemic, everything wasn't as it usually was. After months of absence, a single elimination tournament in Portugal concluded the Champions League knockout rounds. A tournament that Paris went into injured and aging, but with a togetherness not really seen before in that group. A stunning come-from-behind win against Atalanta, followed by a convincing 3-0 win against RB Leipzig, put the PSG of Neymar Jr., Mbappé, Angel Di Maria, Thiago Silva, Marco Verratti, and Keylor Navas just one win away from a European triumph after years of tragedy. Mired amongst the real tragedy of the pandemic, no fans were allowed to watch from the stands. The tournament had fire and passion, but only from those participating. Everyone else had to watch from their homes.
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They would face a juggernaut in FC Bayern Munich. A version of the club that many would say was the best of the last 10 seasons. Paris gave it a real shot, but in reality, it was clear that Bayern Munich were the more deserving side. A Kingsley Coman goal and suffocating defense led to a 1-0 defeat in Lisbon.
A Failed Rebuild
Most realized at that point this version of the PSG project had reached its course. A thin squad with aging stars that gave everything needed to be turned over. But the allure of being that close made the leaders of the capital club take another run with that core of players. PSG would lose Silva after that game (only for him to finally win his Champions League with Chelsea FC the following year), and Edinson Cavani (the former top goal scorer in club history). They were replaced by third-choice center-back Presnel Kimpembe and professional lightning rod Mauro Icardi. Besides those moves, nothing of real substance was done by the then-sporting director, Leonardo, to strengthen the club. What followed was a disastrous fall, which led to the sacking of the then-manager, Thomas Tuchel, the day before Christmas. He was subsequently replaced in January by former Tottenham Hotspur manager and former PSG captain, Mauricio Pochettino.
While it was too late to save Paris from losing out on the Ligue 1 trophy to Lille OSC, they did manage to scrape together knockout round qualifications against FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich, mostly on the back of Mbappé's brilliance. However, the tank ran out of gas in the semis with a 4-1 aggregate defeat against Manchester City, where PSG finished both matches with 10 men. Another close call, but in the end, the core of that incarnation of Les Parisians clearly needed a reboot.
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Remember back to that point. The club was built from the front line back. With a constantly injured Neymar and an over-thirty Di Maria. Mbappé and whatever striker of the week PSG happened to put out that day. Behind that was a nearly thirty-year-old Verratti who had immense wear on his metaphorical tires, Idrissa Gueye, who was a once or twice a month performer at the highest level, and a tenacious but nevertheless underwhelming Leandro Paredes. Defensively, it was Marquinhos and Kimpembe (who at that time was still a year or so from a massive injury decline) and the worst collection of fullbacks that any elite team had at the time. Alessandro Florenzi, Juan Bernat, Colin Dagba, and Mitchell Bakker were just some of the names dragged out there for the elite wingers of the sport to blow by, and honestly, by the not-so-elite wingers as well. In goal was the spectacular but also over-the-hill Navas, their best goalkeeper since Bernard Lama, but that honestly wasn't saying much.
Sporting Director Leonardo also had another problem. He had extended the top stars of the club to 2024 and beyond, leaving him very little room to maneuver. The club had to get better, but it was going to be close to impossible to do so with the terrible financial situation that he and club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi (let's be honest) put them in. What followed was the most consequential window in the club's history (for good and for bad).
Messi Comes to ParisLeo started with the major purchase of the window, which addressed the awful fullback position. He spent €68 million to pry young right-back Achraf Hakimi from Inter Milan. A former Real Madrid youth product, he was burgeoning into one of the top fullbacks in the sport at Inter. His move would be the genesis of PSG's rebuild. The 'Big Bang' from which everything followed. Unfortunately for Leonardo, that was about the only bit of money he had. Everything else would either be a loan deal or a free transfer. Included in that window was Sergio Ramos, a solid but aging center-back, midfield engine Georginio Wijnaldum, and a loan move for a little-known left-back from Sporting Lisbon, named Nuno Mendes.
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Another free transfer that was controversial at the time was a young Italian goaltender who had just been the MVP at the delayed UEFA European Championships. Gianluigi Donnarumma was one of the last Mino Raiola clients before his passing, and with the relationship the two had, he was shuffled off to Paris after his contract expired at AC Milan. Competition for the one competent goalie PSG had in two decades was a bold strategy that would only pay off years after Leonardo had left. Oh, and don't forget the small free transfer of Lionel Messi. Not in the original plans, but with Barcelona breaking the Argentinian's contract after they learned the club was broke as hell, Messi became available, and PSG had no choice but to scoop him up. This formed a super attacking line of Messi, Neymar, and Mbappé. A ceremony was held at the Parc des Princes where all five transfers were put on display. An embarrassment of riches that would slowly turn into an embarrassment of another kind in time.
Lionel Messi never quite fit with PSG. Some would chalk it up to cultural issues like the language or the environment. But it was mostly because PSG didn't really need him. They needed midfielders, defenders, and depth. He wasn't bad for Paris; in fact, the numbers were quite good for a player his age. But you'd notice every time the big three, and even the big four with Di Maria, were on the field, Pochettino and his managerial crew couldn't find a way to make it work. Mainly because the field was so tilted in one direction that PSG were essentially defending with seven to eight men per match.
The Big Three Take On Real Madrid
The league form was fine, and the Champions League campaign started with a decent run of form. However, finishing second to Manchester City in their group would lead to a Round of 16 matchup with Real Madrid. As star-studded an affair as you could get, and a chance for Paris to prove their theory of the case. Could a super team that had been so close before, that had just added the consensus best player of his generation, if not all time, make the final run to the title? The first match at the Parc would prove to be a sluggish affair. Neymar was on the bench to start due to another injury issue. The game started with the typical PSG trick of getting in the box and missing chances, but it was very clear from the beginning that PSG were the better side. Actually, Real Madrid were quite bad, barely sniffing the PSG goal.
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It took until stoppage time for Mbappé to finish the match with an exceptional goal to give Paris the lead headed into the second leg. Of note, Messi's missed penalty in the 62nd minute prevented a much bigger night for Les Parisiens. None of it was overly convincing, but it would set PSG up with an edge. One that they would extend in the first half with another Mbappé goal. His brilliance over the last two Champions League seasons had given PSG fans hope that one uniquely gifted megastar could carry a flawed roster with stars. It was 2-0 headed into the second leg in Madrid. PSG had dominated the tie for all intents and purposes. Mbappé had been the best player by far, and all signs pointed to qualification. Until the 61st minute, until an ancient Karim Benzema stepped on stage.
The collapse began with PSG intently driving for a second goal with an Mbappé finish called back for offside, and a through ball that Mbappé couldn't quite gather. Paris was throwing all the punches and had complete control. But you never really have control, not against that team, not in that stadium. What followed in the 61st minute was a slow back pass from Kimpembe to Donnarumma, who fiddled on the ball waiting for Marquinhos to come open. He never did. Benzema pounced and forced a loose ball that Vinicius Junior won and quickly passed back to Benzema for the finish. Real needed three to advance and had gotten one, but only one. A poor mistake for sure, but no time to lose one's head. However, 15 minutes later, PSG would completely lose their heads.
PSG were dazed, but still hanging in. A Luka Modrić run followed by an incisive pass to a young Vinicius put the PSG defense on ice skates. One more ball to Benzema (with Hakimi keeping him onside) led to the finish, which tied the match. This was immediately followed by a lost pass, another through ball to Vinicius, and another Benzema finish off a pitiful clearance attempt by captain Marquinhos. A shocking, but honestly not so shocking, ending to another shocking but honestly not so shocking Champions League campaign. A Messi free kick from ten yards outside the box didn't have a prayer, and just like that, it was over.
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