PSG crushes Inter to claim its first UCL crown
Paris Saint-Germain recorded the most dominant final win in UEFA Champions League history, with Desire Doue scoring twice as it crushed Inter Milan 5-0 in Munich to clinch its first European crown.
Things started ominously for Inter as PSG became the first team to score twice inside the first 20 minutes of a UEFA Champions League final, with Doue assisting former Nerazzurri right-back Achraf Hakimi for the opener before adding a deflected second.
Luis Enrique's team continued to dominate after half-time, with Doue, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and 18-year-old Senny Mayulu scoring wonderful goals as Inter fell to pieces.
The former Barcelona boss became only the second coach – after Pep Guardiola – to win the treble with two different clubs, as his Ligue 1 and Coupe de France winning side went one better than AC Milan's 4-0 win over Barcelona in 1994, the previous record win in a final.
PSG opened the scoring with a beautifully constructed goal in the 12th minute. Having been played onside by Federico Dimarco, Doue turned on Vitinha's threaded pass and squared for former Inter man Hakimi, who tapped into an unguarded net before celebrating in a muted manner.
Just eight minutes later, Doue went from provider to scorer. Having taken Ousmane Dembele's pass down on his chest on the right side of the area, he saw a low drive deflect off Dimarco and wrong-foot Yann Sommer.
Francesco Acerbi and Marcus Thuram both headed off-target from Hakan Calhanoglu corners, the latter from a glorious position, before Dembele somehow turned a Doue cross all the way back across goal.
PSG ended the half strongly and could have had a third through Kvaratskhelia, who saw a left-footed drive deflect just wide then headed over from the resulting corner.
PSG did have a third in the 63rd minute, as Dembele's clever backheel allowed Vitinha to scamper forward and tee up Doue for a composed finish into the bottom-right corner.
But Luis Enrique's side was not done there, and after substitute Bradley Barcola hammered over the crossbar, Kvaratskhelia raced onto Dembele's throughball to finish emphatically past Sommer.
It was an exhibition from PSG by this point, with Barcola sidefooting wide after sitting Acerbi down, but Mayulu added further gloss with a thumping finish off the near post four minutes from time.
European glory has been PSG's aim ever since Qatar Sports Investments completed a big-money takeover of the club in 2011, but it has been a long and arduous road to the title.
This final was PSG's 168th game in the European Cup/Champions League, the most matches played by a club before winning the competition for the first time, surpassing the 117 matches Manchester City played before it lifted the trophy in 2023.
Iconic players such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, David Beckham, Angel Di Maria, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Lionel Messi, as well as managers including Carlo Ancelotti, Unai Emery, Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino came and went without PSG touching the famous trophy.
But this young, hungry iteration of PSG has broken new ground. Luis Enrique named the youngest starting XI of any UEFA Champions League finalist this century, with an average age of 25 years and 96 days.
In this battle between youth and experience, PSG's energy was evident from the off, with Dembele, Doue and Kvaratskhelia pressing relentlessly from the front while the midfield trio of Fabian Ruiz, Vitinha and Joao Neves covered every blade of grass.
Doue's opener made him just the third teenager to score in a UEFA Champions League final after Patrick Kluivert in 1995 and Carlos Alberto in 2004, and his second made him the first player to record three goal involvements in a final in the competition.
Mayulu later became the fourth teenager to net in the biggest game in European club football, as PSG ended its wait in record fashion.
Simone Inzaghi's Inter has been the master of controlling matches this campaign, but it was caught cold by a rapid PSG start and reduced to chasing the game from that point on.
Inter selected the third-oldest starting XI by any team in a UEFA Champions League final, after AC Milan in 2007 (31 years, 35 days versus Liverpool) and Juventus in 2017 (30 years, 336 days against Real Madrid).
Inzaghi's teams have never been built to chase matches, and the Nerazzurri showed their age as the game became stretched in the second half.
Inter, who lost out to Napoli by the finest of margins in Serie A, was within touching distance of European glory when it lost 1-0 to Manchester City in the 2023 final, but was left in no doubt as to PSG's superiority this time around.