Doué double leads PSG thrashing of Inter Milan for first Champions League trophy

Munich: Paris Saint-Germain finally secured European club football’s most coveted prize as they crushed Inter Milan 5-0 in a one-sided Champions League final on Saturday in Munich. The emphatic win marks the biggest margin of victory in the competition's 70-year history.

Despite the efforts of past superstars like Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappe, the title had eluded the French giants until now. Under Enrique’s leadership, PSG transitioned from a star-driven squad to a cohesive, team-focused unit — a shift that has now delivered the ultimate reward.

At the heart of the victory was 19-year-old Désiré Doué, who delivered a stunning performance that epitomized the club's new direction. The French forward scored twice and assisted another goal in just over an hour on the pitch, earning the player of the match honors and cementing his place as the face of PSG’s next generation.

“It is wonderful, it is magical, we are rewriting the history of this club and French football,” he said.

Achraf Hakimi, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and substitute Senny Mayulu all scored around Doue’s double in a game in which PSG could have run out an even bigger winner.

“It's exceptional,” striker Ousmane Dembele said. “It's especially good since we did it in style."

It took just 12 minutes for the French champion to go ahead with a move of speed and precision when Vitinha’s threaded pass into the box found the feet of Doué. The forward could have shot, but instead slid in Hakimi to tap into an open net.

Eight minutes later, the lead was doubled when Doué’s shot from the right of the box deflected off Federico Dimarco and past Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer.

He got his second in the 63rd, sliding the ball into the bottom corner when through on goal.

Kvaratskhelia added the fourth 10 minutes later, and Mayulu struck in the 86th, just two minutes after coming on.

Doué and Mayulu became the third and fourth teenagers to score in a Champions League final, following Patrick Kluivert in 1995 and Carlos Alberto in 2004.

Luis Enrique, who won the 2015 Champions League with Barcelona, became the seventh coach to win the trophy with two different teams, joining greats Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho.

He also led PSG to a first treble of trophies — the Champions League added to Ligue 1 and the French Cup — matching his achievement with Barcelona 10 years ago.

His players threw him high in the air in celebration after the whistle.

“We are ambitious, we are going to continue to conquer the football world,” he said.

For PSG, this moment has been 14 years in the making since it was bought by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011 and, awash with newfound riches, targeted marquee signings to speed up its route to the top.

In came superstars Zlatan Ibrahimovic, David Beckham and Edinson Cavani. The ante was further upped with the arrivals of Neymar for a world record $262 million, Mbappe and finally Messi, allowing PSG to field possibly the richest array of forwards ever assembled, but still no Champions League trophy to show for it.

The departure of that last stellar trio over the past two years has been the turning point, with a greater focus on the team rather than a collection of stars.

Not that PSG’s transformation hasn’t come at a cost.

It may make for a nice narrative that it has eschewed the big spending approach of before to organically assemble a team to beat all-comers from across Europe. The opposite is true. While it is without the marquee players of the past, this is still one of the most expensive squads in world soccer.

The win will also raise more questions about nation state involvement in soccer and so-called sportswashing, given Qatar’s lavish backing of PSG in enabling it to conquer Europe. It’s victory comes just two years after Abu Dhabi-backed Manchester City won the trophy, again against Inter.

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund owns Newcastle, which will return to the Champions League next season with ambitions of its own.

Inter, meanwhile, was on track for a treble just over a month ago, but has finished the season empty-handed.

Having pushed Manchester City close in the final of 2023 in Istanbul, the Italian giant was totally outclassed by PSG. The sight of many empty seats on Inter's side of the stadium during the second half suggested fans had seen enough.

“We are extremely disappointed,” coach Simone Inzaghi said. “Defeats make you stronger. We've been through this before when we lost the final in Istanbul, but the following year we won the league title." AP