Latest news with #Hakimi
Irish Times
14 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Champions League team of the season: PSG players dominate selection
Goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain) He does have his weaknesses, such as the occasional panic under the crossed ball, but this was the season the Italian reclaimed his title as the world's best goalkeeper. PSG's path to glory saw him outshine Ederson, Alisson, and Emi Martínez before besting Yann Sommer in the final. Donnarumma made a series of saves only he can make, throwing that huge, rangy frame to its full expanse while playing behind a backline built to attack rather than concentrate on defence. Defenders Achraf Hakimi (PSG) If this is the age of full-back being the most multipurpose player in football, then Hakimi is best in class. The Moroccan matched defensive rigour with attacking instincts that saw him score four goals and supply five assists in PSG's run, including the opening strike of the final. His signing in 2021 was probably the first building block of the team that reigned supreme in 2025. READ MORE Willian Pacho (PSG) Marquinhos is the long-serving veteran of the champions, but his partner, Pacho, signed from Eintracht Frankfurt last year for €45m, has completed the Parisians' backline. He became the first Ecuadorean to lift the trophy after his dominant display in Munich blunted Inter's Lautaro Martínez and Marcus Thuram. Playing all 17 matches and logging more minutes than any other player with 1,542, Pacho also won the ball back far more than any player: 124 times. Alessandro Bastoni (Inter) Munich was a living nightmare for Inter defenders. They also conceded six across the two legs in their semi-final classic with Barcelona. But to focus on those matches is to forget the supremacy the Inter defence enjoyed in the extended group stage, where they conceded just a single goal in eight matches. Until the semis and final, Bastoni, an Italian defender of the classic style, had marshalled a three-man defence performing far better in Europe than in Serie A, but still ended a campaign of which he can be proud in tears. Nuno Mendes (PSG) Mirroring Hakimi's command of his flank in attack and defence, Mendes was tasked in the final with stopping the runs of Inter's Denzel Dumfries, one of the competition's most effective players this season. The Dutchman ended up chasing Mendes's shadow. That followed a season where the Portuguese player, just 22 years old, scored four Champions League goals and ravaged opponents, both attackers and defenders, with his athleticism. Mohamed Salah has rarely been kept so quiet. Midfielders João Neves (PSG) PSG's title-winning team did not come cheap but they have invested well, with a summer deal worth €70m landing Neves, one of the most wanted young midfielders in Europe. Small but combative, Neves now stars in the best midfield in Europe in combination with Vitinha and Fabián Ruiz. He had been a slow burn through his first season. When PSG were playing to stay alive in the group stage, Neves was the match-winner against Manchester City, Seven tackles, all successful, seven shots, including a goal, he began to embody a team fighting like wild dogs to win the ball back. Declan Rice (Arsenal) English clubs had a chastening Champions League season, mostly because of PSG, and Arsenal were the semi-final victims. Despite Mikel Arteta's protestations, the Gunners were well beaten but this was the club's best run in the competition in more than a decade. At the fulcrum was Rice, who is maturing into a midfielder who can run a game, as he did most obviously against Real Madrid – a two-legged performance Gunners fans will happily fall back on as something to cherish after their team's exit. Rice usually saved his marauding best for Europe. Pedri (Barcelona) If the modern PSG are a hyper-realised, updated version of Pep Guardiola's Barcelona team, the club he long left behind proved to be this season's entertainers. Hansi Flick is football's great gambler, his team a high-line, high wire act. In the middle of the morass is Pedri, a midfielder of balance, creativity and now experience. Thankfully, he is recovered from the injury problems that his 75-game 2020 caused and fills the mould Andrés Iniesta once did, never looking like losing the ball, forever dangerous to the opposition. Forwards Ousmane Dembélé (PSG) A mark of Luis Enrique's quality as a coach is that he made a productive, consistent player out of one of the game's great enigmas. PSG played mostly without a centre-forward but it was Dembélé who led the line, cutting in from flanks, operating as a false No 9, interchanging with his fellow wingers, his movement creating space and angles to work with. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (PSG) There may be little coincidence that once the Georgian was bought from Naples in January, PSG's status as a giant struggling to make the knockout stages was shedded as they instead became the most decisive champions in European Cup history. The best attacking player in Serie A, a maverick talent that resembles both a throwback and the future proved a revelation in destroying defences. The English teams in particular struggled with him, and when he was going though on goal in Munich, he was able to show off his party-trick finish, at the near post. Lamine Yamal (Barcelona) The best team did not have the best player, and that's how it's supposed to work. When Barcelona were torching opposition defences, winning games from impossible positions, it seemed as if Lamine Yamal would win the Champions League at 17. He will just have to do it at 18. European defences had no answer to his speed and quality of finishing. Those slaloming runs and thunderbolt finishes against Benfica and Inter could be seen as preludes to greatness if he were not already great. Substitutes Emi Martínez came up big in Aston Villa's hugely enjoyable run to the last eight. Denzel Dumfries had five goal involvements in the Inter v Barcelona semi-final. Raphinha and Serhou Guirassy were joint-top for goals, with the Brazilian outstanding for Barcelona, the Guinean a ray of light for a faded Dortmund team. Désiré Doué, scoring two goals in the final, completed PSG's thrilling attacking trio. - Guardian
Morocco World
16 hours ago
- Sport
- Morocco World
Hakimi Named in Team of the Season as Macron Hosts Champions
Achraf Hakimi has been included in the UEFA Champions League Team of the Season after playing a key role in PSG's historic run to win the title. The Moroccan full-back is one of seven PSG players named in the squad, alongside Gianluigi Donnarumma, Marquinhos, Nuno Mendes, Vitinha, Ousmane Dembélé and Désiré Doué. On Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted the PSG squad at the Elysée Palace. 'You've not only stirred and thrilled Parisians during the victory but the entire country over the past few weeks,' Macron said. 'You've also fired the dreams of thousands of youngsters who have been looking up to you.' President Emmanuel Macron hosted the European Champions at the Elysée Palace PSG's win in Munich secured the club's first-ever Champions League title and marked the biggest winning margin in a final in the competition's history. UEFA named Dembélé Player of the Tournament, while Doué, who scored in the final, was voted Best Young Player ahead of Barcelona's Lamine Yamal. Speaking to Canal+ after the match, Hakimi said: 'We have made history, we have written our names in the history of this club. For a long time this club deserved it. We are very happy. We've created a great family.' He also spoke about head coach Luis Enrique, calling him 'the man who has changed everything at PSG… he deserves it more than anyone else.' Hakimi featured in all 17 of PSG's matches during their historic Champions League campaign, scoring 4 goals and providing 2 assists, including a goal in the final. BBC pundit Jens Hitzlsperger described Hakimi as one of the most consistent players in the tournament, saying: 'If it has to be a PSG player, I like Achraf Hakimi. I've been so impressed with him.' 👕🙌 UEFA's Technical Observer Group has selected its 2024/25 UEFA Champions League Team of the Season…#UCL — UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) June 1, 2025 The UEFA team includes only one Inter Milan player – centre-back Alessandro Bastoni. Arsenal's Declan Rice was also selected after his standout display against Real Madrid in the semi-finals, while Barcelona had two names on the list: Raphinha and Yamal. Notably absent from the final XI was Barcelona midfielder Pedri. Tags: Achraf HakimiEmmanuel MacronLuis EnriquePSGUEFA champions league
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Our Champions League team of the season: A teen sensation to a marauding Gunner
Goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain) He does have his weaknesses, such as the occasional panic under the crossed ball, but this was the season the Italian reclaimed his title as the world's best goalkeeper. PSG's path to glory saw him outshine Ederson, Alisson, and Emi Martínez before besting Yann Sommer in the final. Donnarumma made a series of saves only he can make, throwing that huge, rangy frame to its full expanse while playing behind a backline built to attack rather than concentrate on defence. Defenders Achraf Hakimi (PSG) If this is the age of full-back being the most multipurpose player in football, then Hakimi is best in class. The Moroccan matched defensive rigour with attacking instincts that saw him score four goals and supply five assists in PSG's run, including the opening strike of the final. His signing in 2021 was probably the first building block of the team that reigned supreme in 2025. Advertisement Related: Luis Enrique secures status as one of the all-time greats with PSG triumph | David Hytner Willian Pacho (PSG) Marquinhos is the long-serving veteran of the champions, but his partner, Pacho, signed from Eintracht Frankfurt last year for €45m, has completed the Parisians' backline. He became the first Ecuadorian to lift the trophy after his dominant display in Munich blunted Inter's Lautaro Martínez and Marcus Thuram. Playing all 17 matches and logging more minutes than any other player with 1,542, Pacho also won the ball back far more than any player: 124 times. Alessandro Bastoni (Inter) Munich was a living nightmare for Inter defenders. They also conceded six across the two legs in their semi-final classic with Barcelona. But to focus on those matches is to forget the supremacy the Inter defence enjoyed in the extended group stage, where they conceded just a single goal in eight matches. Until the semis and final, Bastoni, an Italian defender of the classic style, had marshalled a three-man defence performing far better in Europe than in Serie A, but still ended a campaign of which he can be proud in tears. Advertisement Nuno Mendes (PSG) Mirroring Hakimi's command of his flank in attack and defense, Mendes was tasked in the final with stopping the runs of Inter's Denzel Dumfries, one of the competition's most effective players this season. The Dutchman ended up chasing Mendes's shadow. That followed a season where the Portuguese player, just 22 years old, scored four Champions League goals and ravaged opponents, both attackers and defenders, with his athleticism. Mohamed Salah has rarely been kept so quiet. Midfielders João Neves (PSG) PSG's title-winning team did not come cheap but they have invested well, with a summer deal worth €70m landing Neves, one of the most wanted young midfielders in Europe. Small but combative, Neves now stars in the best midfield in Europe in combination with Vitinha and Fabián Ruiz. He had been a slow burn through his first season. When PSG were playing to stay alive in the group stage, Neves was the match-winner against Manchester City, Seven tackles, all successful, seven shots, including a goal, he began to embody a team fighting like wild dogs to win the ball back. Advertisement Related: Viva Vitinha: how PSG's deep conductor proved Lionel Messi wrong | Barney Ronay Declan Rice (Arsenal) English clubs had a chastening Champions League season, mostly because of PSG, and Arsenal were the semi-final victims. Despite Mikel Arteta's protestations, the Gunners were well beaten but this was the club's best run in the competition in more than a decade. At the fulcrum was Rice, who is maturing into a midfielder who can run a game, as he did most obviously against Real Madrid – a two-legged performance Gunners fans will happily fall back on as something to cherish after their team's exit. Rice usually saved his marauding best for Europe. Pedri (Barcelona) If the modern PSG are a hyper-realised, updated version of Pep Guardiola's Barcelona team, the club he long left behind proved to be this season's entertainers. Hansi Flick is football's great gambler, his team a high-line, high wire act. In the middle of the morass is Pedri, a midfielder of balance, creativity and now experience. Thankfully, he is recovered from the injury problems that his 75-game 2020 caused and fills the mould Andrés Iniesta once did, never looking like losing the ball, forever dangerous to the opposition. Forwards Ousmane Dembélé (PSG) A mark of Luis Enrique's quality as a coach is that he made a productive, consistent player out of one of the game's great enigmas. PSG played mostly without a centre-forward but it was Dembélé who led the line, cutting in from flanks, operating as a false No 9, interchanging with his fellow wingers, his movement creating space and angles to work with. Advertisement Related: PSG 2.0 have potential to dominate but young stars could be lured away | Nick Ames Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (PSG) There may be little coincidence that once the Georgian was bought from Naples in January, PSG's status as a giant struggling to make the knockout stages was shedded as they instead became the most decisive champions in European Cup history. The best attacking player in Serie A, a maverick talent that resembles both a throwback and the future proved a revelation in destroying defences. The English teams in particular struggled with him, and when he was going though on goal in Munich, he was able to show off his party-trick finish, at the near post. Lamine Yamal (Barcelona) The best team did not have the best player, and that's how it's supposed to work. When Barcelona were torching opposition defences, winning games from impossible positions, it seemed as if Lamine Yamal would win the Champions League at 17. He will just have to do it at 18. European defences had no answer to his speed and quality of finishing. Those slaloming runs and thunderbolt finishes against Benfica and Barcelona could be seen as preludes to greatness if he were not already great. Substitutes Emi Martínez came up big in Aston Villa's hugely enjoyable run to the last eight. Denzel Dumfries had five goal involvements in the Inter v Barcelona semi-final. Raphinha and Serhou Guirassy were joint-top for goals, with the Brazilian outstanding for Barcelona, the Guinean a ray of light for a faded Dortmund team. Désiré Doué, scoring two goals in the final, completed PSG's thrilling attacking trio.
The Guardian
17 hours ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Our Champions League team of the season: A teen sensation to a marauding Gunner
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain) He does have his weaknesses, such as the occasional panic under the crossed ball, but this was the season the Italian reclaimed his title as the world's best goalkeeper. PSG's path to glory saw him outshine Ederson, Alisson, and Emi Martínez before besting Yann Sommer in the final. Donnarumma made a series of saves only he can make, throwing that huge, rangy frame to its full expanse while playing behind a backline built to attack rather than concentrate on defence. Achraf Hakimi (PSG) If this is the age of full-back being the most multipurpose player in football, then Hakimi is best in class. The Moroccan matched defensive rigour with attacking instincts that saw him score four goals and supply five assists in PSG's run, including the opening strike of the final. His signing in 2021 was probably the first building block of the team that reigned supreme in 2025. Willian Pacho (PSG) Marquinhos is the long-serving veteran of the champions, but his partner, Pacho, signed from Eintracht Frankfurt last year for €45m, has completed the Parisians' backline. He became the first Ecuadorian to lift the trophy after his dominant display in Munich blunted Inter's Lautaro Martínez and Marcus Thuram. Playing all 17 matches and logging more minutes than any other player with 1,542, Pacho also won the ball back far more than any player: 124 times. Alessandro Bastoni (Inter) Munich was a living nightmare for Inter defenders. They also conceded six across the two legs in their semi-final classic with Barcelona. But to focus on those matches is to forget the supremacy the Inter defence enjoyed in the extended group stage, where they conceded just a single goal in eight matches. Until the semis and final, Bastoni, an Italian defender of the classic style, had marshalled a three-man defence performing far better in Europe than in Serie A, but still ended a campaign of which he can be proud in tears. Nuno Mendes (PSG) Mirroring Hakimi's command of his flank in attack and defense, Mendes was tasked in the final with stopping the runs of Inter's Denzel Dumfries, one of the competition's most effective players this season. The Dutchman ended up chasing Mendes's shadow. That followed a season where the Portuguese player, just 22 years old, scored four Champions League goals and ravaged opponents, both attackers and defenders, with his athleticism. Mohamed Salah has rarely been kept so quiet. João Neves (PSG) PSG's title-winning team did not come cheap but they have invested well, with a summer deal worth €70m landing Neves, one of the most wanted young midfielders in Europe. Small but combative, Neves now stars in the best midfield in Europe in combination with Vitinha and Fabián Ruiz. He had been a slow burn through his first season. When PSG were playing to stay alive in the group stage, Neves was the match-winner against Manchester City, Seven tackles, all successful, seven shots, including a goal, he began to embody a team fighting like wild dogs to win the ball back. Declan Rice (Arsenal) English clubs had a chastening Champions League season, mostly because of PSG, and Arsenal were the semi-final victims. Despite Mikel Arteta's protestations, the Gunners were well beaten but this was the club's best run in the competition in more than a decade. At the fulcrum was Rice, who is maturing into a midfielder who can run a game, as he did most obviously against Real Madrid – a two-legged performance Gunners fans will happily fall back on as something to cherish after their team's exit. Rice usually saved his marauding best for Europe. Pedri (Barcelona) If the modern PSG are a hyper-realised, updated version of Pep Guardiola's Barcelona team, the club he long left behind proved to be this season's entertainers. Hansi Flick is football's great gambler, his team a high-line, high wire act. In the middle of the morass is Pedri, a midfielder of balance, creativity and now experience. Thankfully, he is recovered from the injury problems that his 75-game 2020 caused and fills the mould Andrés Iniesta once did, never looking like losing the ball, forever dangerous to the opposition. Ousmane Dembélé (PSG) A mark of Luis Enrique's quality as a coach is that he made a productive, consistent player out of one of the game's great enigmas. PSG played mostly without a centre-forward but it was Dembélé who led the line, cutting in from flanks, operating as a false No 9, interchanging with his fellow wingers, his movement creating space and angles to work with. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (PSG) There may be little coincidence that once the Georgian was bought from Naples in January, PSG's status as a giant struggling to make the knockout stages was shedded as they instead became the most decisive champions in European Cup history. The best attacking player in Serie A, a maverick talent that resembles both a throwback and the future proved a revelation in destroying defences. The English teams in particular struggled with him, and when he was going though on goal in Munich, he was able to show off his party-trick finish, at the near post. Lamine Yamal (Barcelona) The best team did not have the best player, and that's how it's supposed to work. When Barcelona were torching opposition defences, winning games from impossible positions, it seemed as if Lamine Yamal would win the Champions League at 17. He will just have to do it at 18. European defences had no answer to his speed and quality of finishing. Those slaloming runs and thunderbolt finishes against Benfica and Barcelona could be seen as preludes to greatness if he were not already great. Emi Martínez came up big in Aston Villa's hugely enjoyable run to the last eight. Denzel Dumfries had five goal involvements in the Inter v Barcelona semi-final. Raphinha and Serhou Guirassy were joint-top for goals, with the Brazilian outstanding for Barcelona, the Guinean a ray of light for a faded Dortmund team. Désiré Doué, scoring two goals in the final, completed PSG's thrilling attacking trio.
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Champions League: In PSG's first, a benchmark for excellence
Kolkata: The Champions League trophy has a new home. One where it could now be a frequent visitor if what a young and skilful Paris St-Germain (PSG) did this summer is any indication. Till Saturday, the Champions League had meant heartbreak for PSG. It was against them that Barcelona showed impossible was nothing, Marcus Rashford helped Manchester United escape to victory and Karim Benzema scored a hattrick as Real Madrid pulled off a heist. Borussia Dortmund stunned them last term and the only time they had played the final before this, PSG had come up short. PSG compensated for all that hurt, for 12 successive knockout round qualifications ending in disappointment, with so much style and substance that the 5-0 dismantling of Inter Milan can now be a benchmark for excellence. Their energy made Inter look inert and, suddenly, very old. And PSG's finesse threw into sharp relief the heavy touches and misplaced passes from the three-time former champions who were in search of a treble not so long ago. 'The image that remains cancels a bit the great season that we have had,' midfielder Nicolo Barella said after Inter's second Champions league final in three seasons. At an average age of 24 years and three months, PSG are the youngest after Ajax in 1994-95 to win the world's toughest club competition. Three days from his 20th birthday, Desire Doue became the youngest to score and assist in a Champions League final, as per Opta. Senny Mayulu is even younger and his combination play with Bradley Barcola, 22, for the fifth goal can be a pointer to the future. PSG caught Inter with their fluid forward play and interchange of positions when they had the ball and pressed them to suffocation when they did not. Doue, the wide right, was on the left to meet Vitinha's defence-splitting pass and Achraf Hakimi, the right back, was where a centre-forward should have been. But PSG do not play a centre-forward so Hakimi did the job with his fourth Champions League goal. This was Hakimi's ninth goal contribution of the season, the most by a defender since 2001, said Opta. None of this was unplanned. 'If I have the ball, I attack, if I don't, I am a defender.' This was how he wanted PSG to play, manager Luis Enrique had said at the start of the season. It showed all night in Munich. With four different scorers – PSG had seven players with five goals in this campaign – the midfield pulling Inter apart to the point that Hakan Calhanoglu and Henrikh Mkhitaryan had to be replaced and Gianluigi Donnarumma being alert to a Marcus Thuram shot in the 75th, the winners were close to perfection. 'We were in cruise control,' said Enrique, the only manager other than Pep Guardiola to win a treble with two clubs. Ousmane Dembele, the designated false nine, didn't score but helped create the second, third and fourth goals. For the second goal, Dembele showed his speed, but for the rest of the night he played like a No.10 along with Vitinha, who is supposed to be a deep-lying midfielder. Dembele unhinged Inter's backline with measured passes, and in one instant, with a back-heel. That wasn't all he did. 'Dembele was pressing (Francesco) Acerbi and the centre-backs… He didn't give them room to breathe… would give Dembele the Ballon d'Or for how he defended today!' said Enrique. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia did not do what he usually does, draw defenders to him and create space for Dembele or fire accurate deliveries, but scored the fourth goal and helped in the counter-attack that led to the second. That was in the 20th minute and summed up the contrast between the teams. Nicolo Barella thought he had done enough to win a corner-kick – Inter's best chances came from them but Acerbi and then Thuram failed to keep headers on target – only for Willian Pacho to set up the counter-attack. Doue was brilliant in his movements all night, running the length of the pitch to score his first and producing a skilful finish, to another brilliant ball from Vitinha, for his second in the 63rd minute. No goals or assists in his last eight matches and then this. The early goals are PSG's forte, they have scored the most (9) in the first 20 minutes. It slayed Inter who had trailed for only 16 minutes in Europe this term. It is worth pointing out that before this became the biggest margin ever in a Champions League final, four of the last five had ended 1-0. And there could have been more had Dembele not missed from close, Barcola and Doue not gone wide. Victories this comfortable in a final tend to distort reality but as Manchester City rebuild, Inter grapple with the sense of an ending, Real Madrid adjust to life with Xabi Alonso, Liverpool deal with balancing Premier League and Champions League, Arsenal look to step up, Bayern to translate domestic superiority to Europe and Barcelona find a way to improve defensively, PSG will be the team to watch out for. Once a collection of stars, they are now a collective that knows no fear. Bring on the Club World Cup.
