Luis Enrique leads PSG to glory

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.

The Parisian side's offensive output was brutal, as it has been throughout the Champions League, except for that round of 16 tie against Liverpool that ended with penalties because the ball wouldn't go in. It seemed like PSG would be missing their top scorer of recent seasons, when in reality a team has emerged where everyone plays together. And with an unexpected star, Ousmane Dembélé, who can play both on the right and as a center forward and finished the season with 33 goals. He didn't score against Munich despite having a golden opportunity. Yesterday, others did the work for him.

Luis Enrique's triumph is that of a coach who was on the ropes in his debut year. Because he was messing with too many things and because he was telling the French that everything they had been doing up until then wasn't enough to lead the team to success. The conflicts with those around him were constant, as were the clashes with Mbappé, from whom he demanded a collective game that the player didn't seem willing to deliver. When everything was about to explode, Luis Enrique surprised the club by telling him he wasn't afraid of being fired, that he had been hired to do the job, and that if he walked out the next day, he'd just as easily go for a bike ride. They saw him so self-assured that they gave him confidence. The rest was the result of making brave decisions, many hours at the whiteboard, and working hard in training.

Attacking without stopping

PSG came out to do what their coach likes best: attack. And Inter had to decide whether to accept the challenge and press the ball forward or retreat. With a goal from a mastermind, an initial combination between Kvaratskhelia and Fabián Ruiz; a through ball from Vitinha to Doué; and Hakimi's final shot, who finished with ease with goalkeeper Sommer completely beaten. Encouraging them and urging them not to give up. Although, given the superiority of each side over the other, everyone was convinced that it was only the beginning of a rout.

Inter were yellow because they didn't even feel solid defensively. The ghosts of the semifinal against Barça were appearing. That team that had been labeled as reliable at the back was being exposed. The difference in the two-legged clash against the Catalans is that on that occasion they were able to do damage with long passes to Dumfries, Lautaro, and Thuram. Yesterday, PSG, more tidy in midfield and with an enviable physique, didn't let the Italians cross the midfield except on rare occasions. And on one of those occasions, PSG took advantage of it to launch a lethal counterattack, led by Dembélé and finished with a fortunate point by Doué: the shot hit Dimarco's foot and confused Sommer, who ended up standing tall.

The final was on track, and PSG only suffered a little in the final minutes of the first half. Although suffering may be too harsh a word. They were troubled by an Inter side that, desperate and with their honor wounded, was taking a step forward. However, they only had two shots on target, and they were both unclear. PSG, on the other hand, finished the first half with around fifteen shots. By the end of the match, they had 23.

The second-half scenario was easy to imagine. Inter came out unhinged, and PSG stuck to their coach's uncompromising ideas. The Italians only had a couple of chances from set pieces before Doué finished the counterattack that Paris Saint-Germain were looking for to finally seal the final, coinciding with Çalhanoglu's injury. To Inter's despair, there was still half an hour left, time for Kvaratskhelia and Mayulu to complete the biggest rout in a Champions League final in history. And, oddly enough, the result could have been even more exaggerated.