**ISTVAN KOVACS** was compassionate when he blew his whistle bang on 90 minutes to save Inter Milan any more punishment in a one-sided Champions League Final at the Allianz Arena last night.
The perplexed and pulverised Italians had been used as a punchbag by a relentless Paris Saint-Germain and were on their knees as early as the 12th minute when Achraf Hakimi rolled in the opening goal.
Eight minutes later, Inter’s Federico Dimarco, who had switched off at the first strike, unforgivably turned his back as Desire Doue lined up a shot and, as so often happens in these circumstances, the ball took a nick off the defender on its way past a wrong-footed and helpless Yann Sommer.
At that precise moment, we all knew we were about to witness a mauling in Munich.
A youthful, energetic, skilful and ruthless French side did not disappoint. Doue, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Senny Mayulu added the others in a remarkable display of domination after the interval.
Like Celtic against the same opponents 58 years earlier, PSG marked the moment they conquered Europe with a fair bit of style and elan while producing the biggest margin of victory in a grand finale.
Luis Enrique’s side, who had beaten Manchester City, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal on their way to sealing a place in history, were still commendably searching for a sixth goal when the shriek from the Romanian match official’s whistle brought a halt to proceedings to prevent any possibility of more stoppage-time pain for an Inter team out on their feet.
It was a merciful act by the referee as he took pity on the battered, beaten and bruised Milan team.
The shrill from Kovacs’ little silver instrument was also welcomed by Celtic fans who viewed the extravaganza on TV.
It brought down the curtain on all the Ally Ballyhoo to which we have been subjected all season from a well-known former Ranger.
It’s quite astonishing the amount of guff that can can be spewed from one individual. The mouth music from this character was wonderfully and succinctly summed up by a critic who stated: “He should remember he is not on Rangers TV when he’s doing these gigs.”
And, yes, there is no denying Wee Ally has been a bit of a cheerleader for his old team whenever an opportunity has presented itself.
Last night, in the midst of a colourful and joyous occasion, there was an open goal for him to wear his neutral’s hat.
Throughout the entertaining evening, a lot was being made of Enrique and Pep Guardiola being the only two managers to lift the treble with a different club on two occasions.
The PSG gaffer had previous success with Barcelona in 2014/15 while the Manchester City team chief also won with the Catalan giants in 2008/09 and the Etihad outfit in 2022/23.
Ally had the ideal opening to slip in a reference to Jock Stein who not only completed a treble in Celtic’s 1966/67 campaign, but also won every tournament in which his team competed, including the Glasgow Cup.
Okay, Big Jock did not win Euope’s most sought-after prize twice – please let’s not go into what happened against Feyenoord in the San Siro Stadium in 1970 – but he did achieve the ground-breaking feat of propelling Celtic towards victory in Lisbon on May 25 1967 to become the first British club to lift the European Cup.
Worth a mention? Not according to a Scot sharing the commentating duties on TNT Sports last night.
Ach well, folks, we can all be grateful we had the opportunity to view a performance of splendour that matched the occasion.
Plus we don’t have to tolerate the bletherings of Ally Ballyhoo for at least another two months.
Now that is a merciful act.
_**ALEX GORDON**_
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