Paris Saint-Germain has won the Champions League for the first time in club history on Saturday. The club from Paris won the final with resounding numbers against Denzel Dumfries’ Internazionale: 5-0.
For Internazionale, with Dumfries in the starting lineup, there was no contending with PSG. The Dutchman played a major role in the semi-finals against FC Barcelona, but couldn’t assert himself at any point in Munich.
After twenty minutes, it was already 2-0 for PSG thanks to goals from Achraf Hakimi and Désiré Doué. The latter, at the age of nineteen, was allowed to start by coach Luis Enrique and fully repaid the faith.
With his goal, Doué became the third teenager with a goal in a Champions League final after Patrick Kluivert (in 1995) and the Brazilian Carlos Alberto (in 2004). The Frenchman also made it 3-0 after halftime, after which Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored the fourth PSG goal.
Senny Mayulu provided the final chord for PSG with the fifth goal. Never before has a final in the battle for the European Cup I or the Champions League ended with such a large difference.
PSG had to wait a long time
What’s special about PSG’s Champions League win is that the club previously failed to win the ‘cup with the big ears’ with stars like Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi, and Neymar. With slightly lesser names, the club finally succeeded on Saturday.
There was little visible of the pressure to finally win the Champions League at PSG in the Allianz Arena in Munich. Immediately after a grand show by Linkin Park, it was PSG that set the tone.
The smooth-running attack with Hakimi as the final destination was already the first sign after twelve minutes that PSG was in for an unforgettable evening. That feeling was reinforced when Doué shot in the 2-0 via Federico Dimarco. Doué quickly had one goal and one assist.
After halftime, Doué’s evening became even better. He scored again and is the first player since 1964 with two goals and an assist in the final of the Champions League/European Cup I. Back then, Sandro Mazzola managed that, who did so notably for Inter.
PSG leaves Inter completely chance less
For the players of Inter, there wasn’t even one goal in it on Saturday. PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma had little to do. On the other side of the field, Kvaratskhelia and Mayulu (like Doué also nineteen years old) made Inter’s defeat even more painful.
In that regard, Dumfries can shake hands with national coach Ronald Koeman. In 1994, as a player for FC Barcelona, he lost the Champions League final 4-0 to AC Milan. Until Saturday, that was the largest score ever in a final for the Champions League trophy.
Koeman had already won the European Cup I twice at the time. For Dumfries, it is the second defeat in a Champions League final, after he already lost to Manchester City with Inter in 2023. Stefan de Vrij was on the bench at the time. That was also the case in Munich on Saturday.