MUNICH: After almost 15 years of huge investment, frequent disappointment and occasional humiliation, Paris St-Germain got their hands on the UEFA Champions League trophy on Saturday after defeating Inter Milan, allowing their Qatari owners to bask in the glory of an emphatic triumph.
PSG could not win European football’s biggest prize in previous seasons with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, or later with Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, and even after that when they added Lionel Messi to the mix.
But they have done it now after shifting the focus away from signing glamorous superstars and letting a brilliant coach in Luis Enrique work with a hungry, dynamic young team.PSG have been Europe’s best side in 2025, but the display against Inter topped it all as they romped to a 5-0 victory, the biggest win in the final in the competition’s history.
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 Desire Doue.
The 19-year-old Doue 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.It was ultimately worth the long wait for the Gulf owners who arrived in 2011 when Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) bought an ailing club.
Qatar got the perfect World Cup final in 2022, when Messi’s Argentina beat Mbappe’s France on an epic night in Doha, and now Qatari-owned PSG have the most stunning Champions League final win.
It is easy to forget now, but they lost three of their first five games in the tournament this season.
“We had a difficult start. Everyone criticised us and doubted us. Lots of people didn’t believe in our project,” PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi told broadcaster Canal Plus. “The objective now is to win again. It has taken 14 years of hard work but we are building something for the future.”
Khelaifi, who is close to Qatar’s ruler and holds several influential positions in football including as chairman of the European Club Association, was beaming as he celebrated with the trophy.
FIRST OF MANY
It is just the second time any French club has won it after Olympique de Marseille in 1993. It surely won’t take over 30 years for PSG to win another Champions League, especially as this thrilling young side should now stay together for a long time.
The average age of their starting line-up on Saturday was under 25 and their oldest player is Marquinhos at 31 — he has been there since 2013.
“I have suffered and I have grown with this team,” the Brazilian told broadcaster M6. “My thoughts are with all the players who played here but were not able to win it.”
It has required 14 years, eight coaches, and over two billion euros ($2.27 billion) spent on transfer fees for QSI to get here.
In the last 12 campaigns before this season, PSG reached one final, losing to Bayern Munich in Lisbon in 2020.
There were two semi-final defeats, but there have also been humiliating collapses in the last 16 against Barcelona in 2017, Manchester United in 2019 and Real Madrid in 2022.
“I said when I came in that the objective was to win important trophies, and the only one missing was the Champions League,” said Luis Enrique, appointed in 2023.
CLUB WORLD CUP THE NEXT TARGET
Luis Enrique and sporting director Luis Campos recently signed new contracts with the club who also won all three available titles in France this season.
Luis Enrique became the second manager, after his former Barcelona teammate Pep Guardiola, to win the continental treble of League, Cup and Champions League in one season twice, both winning their first with Barca and their second by beating Inter.
“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.
PSG will now take away more than 100 million euros just in prize money from winning the Champions League, and there is the chance for more glory and riches as they head to the highly lucrative FIFA Club World Cup in the USA.
Qatar-owned PSG’s quest for domination will not stop with Europe.
“I think it is an incredible competition,” said Luis Enrique, whose side face Atletico Madrid in Los Angeles in two weeks’ time. “Our aim is to be competitive and to try to win a fifth trophy of the season.”
‘IT DIDN’T FEEL LIKE MY INTER’
Meanwhile, Inter manager Simone Inzaghi said he barely recognised his side as they fell to a deserved defeat. The loss marked a bitter end to a frustrating season for three-times European champions Inter, who fell short in three major competitions and finished without silverware.
“It absolutely didn’t feel like my Inter out there — and the players are the first to know it,” said Inzaghi, whose side had reached the final with a thrilling 7-6 aggregate victory over Barcelona.
For Inzaghi, the loss was particularly painful, coming two years after his team suffered a narrow defeat against City in the 2023 final in Istanbul.
“I think PSG deserved to win,” Inzaghi, whose side were last crowned European champions under Jose Mourinho in 2010, told reporters in a brief press conference.
“There is great disappointment and bitterness because the boys have had a great run this season, and it’s hard to end with no titles. As a coach, I’m still proud. We’re not satisfied with tonight’s game. We approached it badly… We didn’t play the final in the best way, but I thanked the boys.”
Inzaghi acknowledged his side’s shortcomings, saying that Inter struggled to match PSG’s intensity.
“We were more tired than PSG, who clinched the French title several weeks ago while we were fighting for the Serie A until the final weekend,” Inzaghi said. “We didn’t play well technically, they got there first… We knew they were stronger than us, we knew we had to be better, but we fully deserved the defeat.”
Italian newspapers didn’t hold back as they told the tale of their team’s humiliating defeat.
“Inter Humiliated” was the verdict on the front page of the Corriere della Sera, which added that Inter were never in the match in a “final without a story”.
The Gazzetta dello Sport went with the simple but effective “Not Like This”, which accurately described the nature of Inter’s performance in a final where the team which clearly wanted it more went on to earn a convincing win.
In the Gazzetta’s player ratings, PSG’s Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma received the lowest score of his team for the simple fact that ‘If they had played without a keeper, PSG would have won anyway’.
Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2025
