ALL too often, cup finals are dull, tense and decided by a single lapse in concentration or a moment of sublime skill. Occasionally, a team puts on a display that becomes a forewarning of change. Paris Saint-Germain’s performance in the Champions League final was being labelled as an overture to a new era well before kick-off, but by full-time, the pundits and critics were lining up to pay their respects to the 24th winner of Europe’s premier football competition.
So now it is complete; PSG are the last of the new money champions, following Chelsea in 2012 and Manchester City in 2023. These were the clubs, we were told, that would totally dominate European football because of the enhanced investment of their owners. The fact that these clubs have won just four Champions Leagues between them since 2004, versus six by Real Madrid, four by Barcelona and two apiece by Liverpool and Bayern Munich, tells you that it is a tough call to be a European champion. It also suggests that while lots of money can be paid by the arrivistes, the difference in player quality is arguably lower than the gap in club wealth.
The media were crowing about PSG’s young, French talent that has transformed the club from a pension fund for ageing primadonnas to one that is more representative of the French nation and the spirit of the age. However, the 2020 PSG team that was beaten in the vacuum of covid football started with two French players and the “new” PSG that kicked off so strangely in Munich also had two. The difference was on the bench, where some teenagers sat waiting for their chance. In the meantime, the studios and gantries continually spoke about young players and how they would terrify the continent in the years ahead.
The “kids”, one of which, the outstanding Désiré Doué, cost € 50 million in the transfer market last summer when he moved from Rennes, actually averaged 20 minutes a man in the final. Another of them, Bradley Barcola, joined from Lyon for € 45 million. Two of Luis Enrique’s substitutes in Munich, Warren Zaïre-Emery and Senny Mayulu, are products of the Paris suburbs.
PSG may not have the galacticos that gave them the profile they were seeking, but the squad that played in the final against Inter Milan cost over half a billion euros. That was only possible because of the investment made by Qatar Sports Investment. PSG may have a more modern Gallic look about them, but they are still a product of sportwashing.
But let’s not devalue their achievements, because their football and their intelligence on the field was stunning at times. They made Inter look like an exhausted team of veterans at the end of their road. Admittedly, it has been a rough few weeks for Inter, who have seen their San Siro co-tenants, Milan, beat them in the semi-final of the Coppa Italia, lose Serie A by a point and now get humiliated in the Champions League final.
PSG have had to learn some hard lessons and the outcome has been the development of a team that has a future rather than one whose component parts have a past and limited appetite for a battle. Their problems have often been a lack of hunger and limited competition on the domestic front. Their current team is young enough to have the raw ambition to achieve great things and the skill-set to know they can run opponents off the park. PSG should never have problems keeping players because they have the resources to ensure their youngsters are happy.
Is this, then, the time of PSG? Has the door been kicked open after years of trying? As European champions, they certainly look like the best at this precise moment, but they were up against an Inter Milan team that simply wasn’t allowed or couldn’t turn up. Their peers now are Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, Manchester City, teams that have the Champions League in their sights every season. These clubs know they cannot stand still, because if they do, they can slip out of contention just as City did for a while. PSG are well equipped but inexperienced, and clubs like Real Madrid have shown what excellent players over 30 years of age can do when used sparingly and with purpose. There is not a lot between the elite clubs, so sometimes it is a case of waiting your turn and riding your luck. Overwhelming dominance is more easily achieved on the domestic front than in Europe.
Game of the People was founded in 2012 and is ranked among the 100 best football websites by various sources. The site consistently wins awards for its work, across a broad range of subjects. [View all posts by Neil Fredrik Jensen](https://gameofthepeople.com/author/georgefjord/)