Youthful Paris Saint-Germain flaunt maturity beyond their years to finally reach Champions League summit

Yahoo

2 days ago

Paris Saint-Germain matured, moved away from the superstars, and so the stars aligned for them.
Producing the biggest margin of victory in the 70-year history of the European Cup final, Luis Enrique's sensational side obliterated Inter Milan 5-0 here in Munich's Allianz Arena.
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The Champions League trophy is finally PSG's — seen as the pinnacle of their ambition when the club was purchased by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011.
They have had to learn the hard way, realising that littering the team with the individual brilliance of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar was no guarantee of European success.
PSG and their chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi did away with all that and now have their reward: a winning formula led from the front by youthful French attackers Desire Doue, Bradley Barcola and their unassuming poster boy Ousmane Dembele. Enrique told his players when Mbappe left for Real Madrid that, without him, they would score more. That's proven prophetic.
After the semi-finals in 2021 and last year, and the final in 2020, at last the European crown is theirs.
Doue scored two and assisted another to help PSG on their way (AP)
Inter were deserving finalists, having knocked out Bayern Munich and stunned Barcelona in perhaps the greatest semi-final tie of all time, but were never remotely close to landing their fourth crown and, as in 2023, were beaten finalists.
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The goals came from 19-year-old Doue, who scored twice, and from ex-Inter man Achraf Hakimi, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Senny Mayulu but could have come from anyone in that rampant front-line.
It felt telling when, the night before the final, PSG's captain Marquinhos — who has lived through everything at the club, the highs and the lows, for 12 years — admitted this iteration of the team is the one he has had the most fun playing in. And so the fun began again.
Barely a minute was needed for the match to take up its expected status quo, PSG passing and probing and searching for spaces Inter hadn't meant to leave unmanned.
Patient though their possession was for the first 10 minutes, the arrival of a handful of red flares behind the PSG goal seemed to stoke the fire in them at the other end. The opening goal on 12 minutes was followed by a second just eight minutes later. Both showed PSG at their scintillating best.
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Their midfield maestro Vitinha played the killer pass, bisecting Inter's defence and allowing Doue (energetic and front-footed throughout) to square for Hakimi.
the 19-year-old mayulu epitomised PSG's new generation (AFP via Getty Images)
Their second had everything: pace, panache, and dogged defending. What started at one end as Ecuadorian centre-back William Pacho clearing the ball off the line to prevent an Inter corner quickly became a breathtaking counter-attack, Kvaratskhelia setting Dembele free to run at Inter and then drift a cultured pass wide right for Doue to control and volley in via a deflection, PSG in total command.
Now was the time to strike back for Inter, but both Francesco Acerbi and Marcus Thuram headed wide from corners as PSG's confidence only grew. Inter misplaced passes and played without tempo or rhythm, hamstrung.
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Misses by Kvaratskhelia were the final action of the first half and the first action of the second. There was to be no letting up.
a cut above the rest: luis enrique (AP)
And it only became more emphatic for PSG, more gruelling for the Nerazzurri, as Doue latched on to a through-ball from the outstanding Vitinha and coolly found the corner. Doue, a teenager, had two goals and an assist in the Champions League final. Not bad.
Enrique and his coaching staff celebrated every goal the same, bouncing up and down in a huddle, but when Dembele fed Kvaratskhelia to slam home the fourth, the PSG bench stormed onto the pitch on a night that could not get any better.
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Except it could. As the Munich heat held late into the night, substitute Mayulu — 19 years of age, born eight miles from the centre of Paris — added a fifth.
PSG came 15th in the league phase and lost five games en route to this final. Inter, meanwhile, just one, breaking a record in that same league phase by keeping clean sheets in seven of their games.
Inter were the oldest team in the knockout stages and manager Simone Inzaghi named a starting line-up with an average age five-and-a-half years younger than their opponents, but after a spirited run where he has squeezed the absolute most out of an ageing squad, their run was finally up.
The vast experience in their ranks counted for nothing as PSG came of age and delivered the French capital European glory at long last.