From winning the Ballon d'Or to being singled out by Luis Enrique Martínez. Ousmane Dembélé has gone from having his best season yet to showing a very different side this year. Not only in his playing style, but also in his attitude, and this is being reflected in the recent results of his club, Paris Saint-Germain. The French team is struggling to get going this season. It's practically the same players, the same coach, the same system, and the same ideas, but not the same results. They're experiencing a real rollercoaster ride. In one match they win by a landslide, in the next they win by a single goal, and in the following one they lose. It's hard to understand how things have changed so much when the core of the team is the same.

With Pedri González out and the hellish schedule of matches at the beginning of 2026, Hansi Flick would have liked to have Dro Fernández at his disposal. The German coach had valued the performances of the midfielder from Nigrán since the summer Asian tour, where he was impressed by his dynamism in the attacking midfield. Dro, who came up through La Masia from the youth ranks, and despite his brief stint with Barça B, was expected to join the young academy players in the first team. Flick planned to gradually integrate him, so he was immensely disappointed when, in mid-January, the player informed him that he would be leaving in the winter transfer window after accepting one of the many offers he had received.

Robert Lewandowski, with his goals, continues to shut the mouths of those who believe that, at 37 years old on August 21, he no longer has the strength to play for an elite team. The Warsaw striker is entering his fourth season at Barça, apparently his last (he's the one he's signed to), but the Barça club's top offices explain to ARA that "it will be his numbers and his performance" that will define the Polon's immediate future at the end of the season. In fact, the fact that he's playing his fourth season as a Barça player is explained by the fact that last season he played more than 55% of his matches, playing at least 45 minutes. This triggered the automatic renewal to which Lewandowski was entitled, and he closed out the 2024-25 season with impressive results: 42 goals in 52 matches.

Paris surrendered at the feet of a Catalan woman. Again, for the fifth time. The French capital dressed up for another year for the Ballon d'Or ceremony, the award given by the French magazine France Football and which recognizes the best players of the season. A historic gala, because Aitana Bonmatí won the Ballon d'Or ahead of Mallorca's Mariona Caldentey, who came in second. Alessia Russo, a double European champion with Arsenal and the English national team, finished third. In the men's category, it was a celebration for PSG: they were chosen as the best club, Luis Enrique won as the best coach, and Ousmane Dembélé won the grand prize, the Ballon d'Or, ahead of Lamine Yamal, who came one step away from causing an upset. The player from Mataró became the youngest player to climb the podium, doing so at 18 years old. Until now, the youngest had been Brazilian Ronaldo in 1997 at 21 years old.

Paris Saint-Germain couldn't put the finishing touches on a historic season. Luis Enrique Martínez's team fell clearly in the Club World Cup final against a very well-prepared Chelsea. Dembélé jeopardizes his status as favorite to win the Ballon d'Or against Barça's Lamine Yamal

"Reality check," is the headline given by several media outlets following the news from the Whites. This is the feeling in Madrid after losing 4-0 to Luis Enrique's PSG.. Xabi Alonso, who in a few weeks had managed to establish himself as the savior, was harshly criticized by the Spanish press after a thrashing that leaves them without a chance of playing in the Club World Cup final, which will be played between Chelsea and PSG.

France celebrated tonight PSG's victory in the Champions League finalHowever, a celebration that has turned tragic, with major clashes across the country and at least two fatalities, as confirmed by the Ministry of the Interior. Specifically, during these celebrations, a 17-year-old boy was stabbed to death in Dacs, in southwestern France. At this time, the police have not specified the context of the attack. In Paris, a man died while riding a motorcycle and was struck by a car.

It was only a matter of time before Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League. What few expected was that this season would be their best. The year the French club lost its star player, Kylian Mbappé, considered by many to be the best striker in football. But it turns out the best of all was not on the pitch, but on the bench. The club's multimillion-dollar investment was bound to bear fruit sooner or later, although PSG's success would be incomprehensible without Luis Enrique Martínez, the coach who has brought order to the locker room and tactics to the pitch. They hired him to win the Champions League, and he completed his work with a display in the Munich final. Inter Milan had no chance. And the result, oddly enough, fell short.

Ten years after winning the Champions League with Barça, Luis Enrique will try to repeat the feat with Paris Saint-Germain. The French side made no mistake against Arsenal in the second semi-final and will face Inter at the Allianz Arena in Munich on June 1st in a final unlike any other. In fact, PSG is only reaching its second final, after losing to Hansi Flick's Bayern Munich in 2020, the year of the pandemic. As life goes, PSG could reach the top of the league in the first year without Kylian Mbappé.

The Versailles Regional Police have arrested PSG player Aminata Diallo as the alleged organiser of the serious attack suffered by her teammate Kheira Hamraoui last Thursday. Diallo allegedly hired two thugs to assault the former Barça player on her way home from a dinner with the squad. Hamraoui suffered serious injuries that forced her to be admitted to Poissy hospital, where she received stitches on her hands and legs.

Some defeats end up becoming victories with the passage of time. Losing is part of life and Barça had not known how to lose in the Champions League for many years, becoming a caricature of its former self. But times are changing. If a year ago the team put their fans to shame in Lisbon, this time the barcelonistas could raise their head, proud of a team that for a few moments had the illusion of lifting a tie that had been decided for days. It didn't matter. In an act of faith, the Barça believed in it. And it made millions of people believe it too. But the lack of aim pardoned a defensive PSG (1-1), which could have done a lot of damage.