Luis Enrique breaks the curse and gives PSG their first Champions League title

On their journey, losing a constellation of stars whose individual brilliance ultimately blinded their lavish project, but gaining in return a team full of soldiers ready to die for the cause, Paris Saint-Germain managed to break the curse that seemed to haunt them in the Champions League this Saturday, granting French football its second 'big ear' in history. Thirty-two years after Olympique de Marseille triumphed in Munich, Luis Enrique's team reached the heavens, also in the Bavarian city, and similarly claiming in the final of the top continental competition the scalp of another Lombard squad, this time Simone Inzaghi's Inter Milan, instead of that Milan of Fabio Capello which a year later would give Johan Cruyff's Barça a lesson in Athens but succumbed on German soil with a solitary goal from Basile Boli.

Unlike that encounter, where the 'rossoneri' had better chances but lacked precision, all the credit this time went to the champion, who ruled from start to finish a duel that consecrates the revolution Luis Enrique has carried out since his arrival in Paris. The Asturian took over two years ago a squad devoid of sacrifice and has turned it into an incredibly united troop that gave no chance to an Inter overwhelmed by events at the Allianz Arena.

A goal from Achraf Hakimi, another from Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, one more from Senny Mayulu, and a brace from Désiré Doué served to deliver the biggest thrashing seen in a final of the top continental competition to an Inter that was overwhelmed at all times by the physical and tactical storm of the Parisians, crowning for the first time as European champions a PSG that found the path to paradise without Kylian Mbappé's predatory ability, but with a tough sergeant like Lucho leading an army of legionaries who apply each of his tenets to the letter.

After winning the French League and Cup, the former Spanish coach secured his second 'big ear' as a manager ten years later and in the same country where he reigned with Barça, rounding off a dream year that anoints him as the second coach capable of securing a treble with two different teams, after Pep Guardiola achieved the same feat with Barça in 2009 and with Manchester City in 2023. He is also the sixth manager to win the Champions League with two different squads, joining the select club that includes distinguished members such as Carlo Ancelotti, Ottmar Hitzfeld, Jupp Heynckes, and José Mourinho, in addition to the strategist from Santpedor.

There were no other colours than PSG's in a contest that the Parisians dominated at will against an unrecognisable Inter that was unable to put up a fight against the French hurricane that hit them. The Parisians turned the playing field into a funnel for the Italians and quickly dissolved that long war of attrition that Simone Inzaghi wanted, showcasing a devastating physical exuberance that buried the 'nerazzurri' in just 20 minutes. First, it was Doué who took advantage of a fabulous pass from Vitinha and a conceptual error from Dimarco to gift a goal to Achraf Hakimi. And the young French talent followed up by finishing a counterattack launched by Kvaratskhelia and Dembélé, doubling the lead with a right-footed shot that deflected off Dimarco just enough to deceive Sommer.

Inter were chasing shadows without the ball, bewitched by the fluidity of a midfield led by Vitinha and repeatedly subdued by the astonishing display offered by Luis Enrique's centurions. Because the advantage did not diminish PSG's ambition one bit, but rather reinforced the aggressive approach of the Asturian strategist, which involved demoralising their opponent with and without the ball. A brutal exhibition by the French team, which trapped Inzaghi's men and barely allowed them a small opening to dream of reducing the deficit in the first half through a header from Thuram off a corner that the French forward headed too wide. It was merely a mirage, as the spaces that opened up in the second half, with Inter desperately pushing forward, allowed PSG to increase the punishment and enter history with a bang, dispelling the ghosts of the past.