PSG Chairman says the club’s youth-centric journey will continue with Luis Enrique, who had an emotional night as his club ascended to the top of European football.
Paris Saint-Germain’s bona fide challenge will begin after the UEFA Champions League win, president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said after achieving what was long touted as the club’s project’s ultimate aim on Saturday.
“The real work starts today and we have a lot to do,” said Al-Khelaifi, who was seen jubilant while embracing the PSG players on the podium following the club’s maiden European win. The Qatar Sports Investment-controlled side did so in style with a 5-0 routing of Italian side AC Milan at Munich’s Allianz Arena.
“We are building a team for the future. Whatever the outcome has been today or before, we are not going to change,” he told the U.S.-based broadcaster CBS, adding winning the premier competition felt like a “dream”.
PSG’s stunning win — the biggest margin in the finale — was emblematic of the club’s recent shift in approach under sporting director Luis Campos. Following the departures of Neymar, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, they entrusted Spanish manager Luis Enrique with a relatively young squad with no obvious superstars but with plenty of firepower. The approach would not change regardless of the result in the finale, Al-Khelaifi had said after the semi-final win against Arsenal.
That, however, was rewarded on Saturday as 19-year-old Desire Doue rose up to the occasion with two goals and an assist. In the Italians’ undoing, Moroccan full-back Achraf Hakimi opened the scoring and January signing Kvicha Kvaratskhelia added on in the second half following Doue’s brace. Senny Mayulu, a PSG youth academy teenager, then completed the night scoring off the bench.
At the Allianz Arena, the youngest team of the tournament looked like the hungrier of the two. Internazionale, the oldest yet perhaps the grittiest squad, had brushed Barcelona aside in a thrilling semi-final to punch the ticket to Munich.
“They deserve to be here and it was an incredible final. If you told me that we’d win by five goals, I’d have said it was impossible,” Al-Khelaifi said.
When probed by French football legend Thierry Henry on what this success means at a personal level, Al-Khelaifi said it has been a tough, yet rewarding journey amidst the critisms, hailing PSG as the flag bearers of the French league.
“We’ve been critised alot,” said Al-Khelaifi, who has been leading the side since QSI’s takeover in 2011, amid accusations of “sportswashing“. “For me, I was really focusing on what we wanted to achieve and I knew that we’re gonna get it.”
“It is not just for Paris but for all of France. We have a good league and historic clubs. I’m sure it will get better and I feel so proud as a French club to win this title.”
The new milestone, however, calls for more focus, he hinted: “We need to be humble and down to earth, because football moves very quickly.”
PSG fans’ moving tribute to Enrique and Gaza
Saturday’s win was also characterised by head coach Enrique’s character arc, who was also visibly emotional after the win. Feverish PSG fans unfurled a banner depicting the Spaniard and his late daughter, Xana, moments after the final whistle. It was a recreation of the moment when the two planted a flag in the pitch after winning his first Champions League as a coach ten years ago with Barcelona.
“It was very emotional with the banner from the fans for my family,” the Spaniard said on a night he became only the second coach ever to win the treble with two different clubs.
Xana, who had died six years ago due to a rare form of bone cancer at the age of nine, was going to be with Enrique “spiritually”, the PSG head coach had said ahead of the finale.
“It’s a great feeling to make many people happy,” Enrique said reflecting on the success. “Paris had never won the Champions League. We did it for the first time.”
Earlier, thousands of PSG Ultras who had made their way to Munich had unfurled a giant banner around kick-off, calling out Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
“Stop genocide in Gaza,” the banner read. Their journey to the Allianz Arena also had a spot for Palestine with flags and protests against Israel’s relentless bombing. Chants such as “We are all the children of Gaza” were heard while PSG fans were on their way to what would eventually be a historic night for the club.
Pro-Palestinian motifs have been a common sight among the Parisian club’s fan base. A giant “Free Palestine” tifo was unfurled at the Parc des Princes — the club’s home ground — in November ahead of the game against Spanish side Atletico Madrid.
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