Latest news with #OusmaneDembele
New Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Sport
- New Straits Times
PSG big winners in new Champions League format
MUNICH: Paris St Germain went from risking an early exit in this season's Champions League to an emphatic final victory, with the French club proving the biggest beneficiaries of the competition's new format. Luis Enrique's side thumped Inter Milan 5-0 on Saturday in Munich to win the tournament for the first time, but given their early form, they were lucky to even be involved in the knockout rounds. The Champions League has long been a far cry from the old European Cup, where only the champions of each country took part in a knockout tournament, but perhaps this season governing body UEFA has found the best of the reinvented editions. The group stage was replaced with a mammoth 36-team league phase where clubs play eight of the other sides once and the top eight qualify directly to the last 16, while the next best 16 go into a knockout playoff round to join them. UEFA announced the changes in 2021 to much scepticism and criticism from players, managers and fans alike, with complaints over the confusing new format and yet more matches for players already unhappy with an overloaded football calendar. While it did mean extra games for clubs, the claim that the changes would offer an even easier route for the major sides to reach the later rounds proved untrue, and the league phase offered excitement right up to the final matchday. Luis Enrique brushed off any suggestion of altering his ways, despite the increase in games. "It's true, the schedule is a bit different but I don't think it is going to change the way I work as a coach," he said before the competition began. "I have principles that I think are best for the team. It is always good to have around 20 players who think they can play, rather than 12 or 13." TEETHING PROBLEMS PSG's record over the opening six games would have made it very unlikely to see them make it out of the old group stage, having collected just seven points as the new format offered up more matches between the bigger clubs early on. The French club had to face Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid, losing to all three. PSG did win their opening match with Girona and later beat RB Salzburg but could only draw at home to PSV Eindhoven. At that stage of the season, the coach faced criticism for his team selections and experimental formations, and Luis Enrique also laid down the law with his players, dropping Ousmane Dembele for the Arsenal game for disciplinary reasons. There was method to what some saw as madness, and the coach has managed to turn his group of players into a proper team, with Dembele ending up player of the tournament, and PSG shifting gear at just the right time. PSG were 2-0 down to Manchester City in their penultimate league phase game, with both sides in trouble as they found themselves way down the standings. PSG mounted a stunning comeback to win 4-2 and their Champions League campaign truly began.
Ammon
3 hours ago
- Sport
- Ammon
Ousmane Dembélé named UEFA Champions League Player of the Season
Ammon News - Ousmane Dembele has capped off a sensational season with Paris Saint-Germain by being named UEFA Men's Player of the Season after inspiring the French giants to a stunning in the Champions League final in Munich. PSG were crowned European champions for the first time after a stunning 5-0 victory over Inter Milan—the largest winning margin ever seen in a final of Europe's elite club competition. Dembele endured a difficult start to the campaign, even being dropped by coach Luis Enrique for a group stage clash with Arsenal due to disciplinary issues. However, the 28-year-old turned his season around after being moved into a more central role, going on to score eight goals in the Champions League. Although Dembele didn't get on the scoresheet during PSG's emphatic win over Inter Milan, he registered two assists and was praised by Luis Enrique as one of the standout displays of the night. 'I would give the Ballon d'Or to Mr. Ousmane Dembele,' Enrique said. 'The way he defended tonight, just that alone could be worth the Ballon d'Or. That's how you lead a team. Goals, trophies, leadership, defence, his pressing.' Daily Mail
New York Times
4 hours ago
- Business
- New York Times
There's much to like about PSG stars – but conflict in watching Champions League win
Football is not demarcated by black and white any more; not since colour television sent broadcast rights spiralling and the Champions League ball was stitched from a shade named 'solar slime'. There is plenty to like about Paris Saint-Germain, European champions for the first time in their history. Advertisement Their manager, Luis Enrique, is a kind man and an innovative coach, whose personal success is all the more gratifying for the tragedies suffered by his family. In Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Desire Doue and Bradley Barcola, they have a trio of wingers who play with the joy and verve of mountain springs made human. Over his career, Ousmane Dembele has been tossed on a sea of troubles, and at times sunk beneath its waters, but resurfaced to realise his sparkling potential. For more than a decade in this competition, PSG fans have been left blinking back tears of frustration many times more than tears of joy. In the microcosm, every player, staff member, and yes, possibly even executive, has their own individual story of overcoming and toil which, on Saturday night, was realised in the glare of a thousand camera flashes. Some would have you believe that this narrative extends to the macrocosm, and what PSG represent in an increasingly worldwide game. Globalisation is a good thing; it has given Georgia its Champions League hero, it has formed Paris' uniquely diverse footballing culture. For them — as PSG's president, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, congratulated his players on the podium — this was the moment that plucky Qatar, a nation of fewer than three million inhabitants, repaid its 14-year investment in a club with boundless untapped potential. Dumped out in the group stages of their home World Cup, this was the moment the country's sporting muscles were flexed, as confetti fell to crown just the second state-backed club to have won the Champions League. But not many would recognise that understanding of events. Football is aware that Qatar has tooled sport to obscure the brutality of its human rights record and to market its fossil fuel investments. But football, like other big business, is not governed by those misgivings. So there is conflict for many when watching the celebrations unfold. PSG's performance in their 5-0 win was moving in its elegance, a triumph of technical skill, industry, and bravery. Inter were dissected by an artist's sharp palette knife. But the club are still indelibly linked to the abuses of their nation-state owners — from the Qatar Airways badge on their shirts to the transfer fees for their constellation of starlets. Expect to see their image, lifting the giant silver trophy, on a Qatar Airways poster near you. This is cultural capital that money can buy. Remember that while PSG may have shifted their strategy towards young talent rather than galacticos, that talent did not come for free — they spent €240million (£202m; $272m) on new signings this season, on the back of €455m one year before. In its footballing strategy, this was a fully realised version of the much-maligned Chelsea project. Advertisement Of course, football is no Eden without its state-owned teams. The blitz of money which American hedge-fund investors are throwing towards the Premier League is not without its problems. Elsewhere, organised crime still has its tendrils in many parts of the sport across the globe, and the misty-eyed reverence for benevolent local tycoons is a notion that went extinct before the Tasmanian tiger. Clearly, the Glazer family are not good for football — but equally, they are not attempting to obscure the unexplained deaths of thousands of their migrant employees. PSG's Champions League win is a victory for every individual involved, for their own perseverance and ability. But every person, at once, carries both what we ourselves are and we as ourselves represent. As a collective, PSG's victory stands for something very different indeed.
The Independent
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Carnival atmosphere in Paris after Champions League success
Thousands of fans lined the Champs Elysees on Sunday as Paris St Germain celebrated their Champions League triumph. PSG brought the trophy back to Paris for the first time after thrashing Inter Milan 5-0 in Munich on Saturday night – the record margin of victory in a Champions League final. The number of fans on the Champs Elysees were limited to 100,000 after violence marred PSG's stunning victory. Two people died and the French interior ministry reported 559 arrests were made across France during the celebrations. But there was a carnival atmosphere in Paris as fans waved flags, lit flares and belted out the Queen anthem 'We Are The Champions'. An open top double-decker bus in the PSG colours of blue, red and white, with the words 'Champions D'Europe' written on it, made its way slowly down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi, chairman of club owners Qatar Sports Investments, and head coach Luis Enrique – who won the Champions League in 2015 with Barcelona and became the seventh manager to lift the trophy with two different clubs – led the celebrations. The trophy was passed down the bus to every player, who were proudly wearing their winner's medals. Defender Presnel Kimpembe grabbed the microphone to sing 'Ici c'est Paris!' (This is Paris) and captain Marquinhos urged FIFA to reward Ousmane Dembele for his efforts by saying 'Ousmane, Ballon d'Or.' France forward Dembele scored eight goals in PSG's European campaign and was named by UEFA as the best player in this season's Champions League. After the parade, the players and staff were received at the Elysee Palace by French president Emmanuel Macron. The celebrations will conclude at the Parc des Princes on Sunday evening with a trophy presentation in front of the club's season ticket holders. There will also be a closing lap of honour from the players.
Daily Mail
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue land Champions League awards after PSG triumph - as one Premier League star makes team of the season
Ousmane Dembele has capped off a sensational season with Paris Saint-Germain by being named UEFA Men's Player of the Season after inspiring the French giants to a stunning in the Champions League final in Munich. PSG were crowned European champions for the first time after a stunning 5-0 victory over Inter Milan—the largest winning margin ever seen in a final of Europe's elite club competition. Dembele endured a difficult start to the campaign, even being dropped by coach Luis Enrique for a group stage clash with Arsenal due to disciplinary issues. However, the 28-year-old turned his season around after being moved into a more central role, going on to score eight goals in the Champions League. Although Dembele didn't get on the scoresheet during PSG's emphatic win over Inter Milan, he registered two assists and was praised by Luis Enrique as one of the standout displays of the night. 'I would give the Ballon d'Or to Mr. Ousmane Dembele,' Enrique said. 'The way he defended tonight, just that alone could be worth the Ballon d'Or. That's how you lead a team. Goals, trophies, leadership, defence, his pressing.' Meanwhile, Dembele's PSG team-mate Doue has been named UEFA Men's Young player of the Season after his impressive display in Munich. The 19-year-old capped off his outstanding campaign by setting up the opening goal for Achraf Hakimi in the final, before adding two goals of his own. Dembele and Doue are two of seven PSG players that have been named in UEFA'S Team of the season, with Gianluigi Donnarumma, Achraf Hakimi, Marquinhos, Nuno Mendes, Vitinha also making the cut. Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice has been named in the side too after a memorable campaign. The England international scored four goals, including two free-kicks in the quarter-final against Real Madrid. Barcelona pair Raphinha and Lamine Yamal make up the rest of the team alongside Inter's Alessandro Bastoni.
