2 days ago
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The suffering only makes it sweeter and how Paris Saint-Germain had suffered in the Champions League after the Qatar Sports Investments takeover of 2011. Prior to this season, it had been 12 consecutive qualifications for the knockout rounds and 12 assorted sets of heartbreak, some of them scarcely believable. A first success in the competition consistently eluded them.
This was the night when the French champions broke through, when they delivered on the obsession of their owners, of everybody connected to the club; 13th time lucky. All of the emotion came pouring out as Luis Enrique’s swashbuckling team tore into Inter, the result not in doubt from the moment that the nerveless Désiré Doué made it 2-0 before the midway point of the first half.
It had been possible, in fact, to fear for Inter from the first whistle. PSG were in that kind of mood. They have been the dominant team in Europe since the turn of the year, sweeping all before them, and they were determined to drive it all home.
It would become impossibly grisly for Inter well before the end, Simone Inzaghi’s team powerless to resist the PSG waves and a record margin in a European Cup final. After Doué had scored his second for 3-0, teed up by the irrepressible Vitinha, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia made it four, there was a moment when the substitute, Bradley Barcola, tied the veteran Inter defender, Francesco Acerbi, in such a knot that it felt cruel. Barcola would then blow the chance.
PSG toyed with Inter. When a fan of the Serie A club was pictured on the big screen in floods of tears, it was the defining image from their point of view. There was a time about six weeks ago when Inter were on for a treble. They have finished the season empty-handed; utterly broken.
PSG were not finished. Doué had already made way and it was another 19-year-old, Senny Mayulu, on as a substitute, who made the final incision, shooting home from a Barcola pass. For PSG it was the completion of a treble. At long last, they have their grail.
PSG had gone straight for the jugular. There were 12 minutes on the clock when their ultras lit a few red flares because they loved what they saw from their team during the early running – the positional interchanges, the unusual overloads, the slickness of the passing. PSG brought a fierce press; Inter could not get out, the pressure intense on the goalkeeper, Yann Sommer, when he tried to play – a theme established. Moments later, there were flares everywhere in the PSG end, the celebrations for the breakthrough goal suitably wild.
Luis Enrique had promised that his team knew “how to unpick opponents like this, how to get that tight-knit defence to unravel.” It was just the way he said. Vitinha held the conductor’s baton, watching Kvaratskhelia and Fabián Ruiz make moves off the left, pulling at the seams of the Inter defence. When Vitinha got the ball back, he fizzed it up to Doué on the left of the area, a breathtaking incision. Hakimi was already on the move from right-back, attacking the six-yard box. Doué took a touch as he spun and found him. It was ping-perfect.
PSG would tighten their grip in the 20th minute and at that point, Inter were gasping. Nicolò Barella thought he had won a corner but that was before Willian Pacho jumped into a challenge on him, hooking the ball away and the end-to-end PSG counter was devastating. Kvaratskhelia and Ousmane Dembélé were prominent, the latter going right to Doué whose shot deflected off Federico Dimarco to beat Sommer.
Inter fought to clear their heads. Maybe a set piece could offer them a lifeline? Acerbi went close with a header from one, Marcus Thuram thumped another header from another one just wide having got above Kvaratskhelia. Barella also took a heavy touch in open play when well placed.
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The first half was mainly about PSG’s movement, the spaces they were able to enjoy. Dembélé dropped deep from his central attacking role. He went right. He went pretty much wherever. Doué’s license to roam off the right was pronounced. Then again, it helps when you have Hakimi thundering up that side. Vitinha was a delight.
It was a night when the contrasts were everywhere. It was PSG’s youthful swagger vs Inter’s experience. It was 4-3-3 without a pure centre-forward vs 3-5-2 with twin No 9s. It was attack vs defence. And it was big budgets vs tight economics, cuteness on the market. In Inzaghi’s four years at Inter, his most expensive signings have been Benjamin Pavard and Davide Frattesi, each for a little more than €30m. Only two of the PSG starting XI cost less than that.
Inzaghi needed a punch to land as the second-half minutes ticked by. Perhaps his team could unsettle PSG with a long throw? Balls slung high into the box seemed like the best bet. It was wishful thinking. The alarm bells started to sound for Inter when Vitinha got on the ball and started to scuttle and probe, the ball under his spell, his markers close and yet miles away. The give-and-go with Dembélé was beautiful, his teammate finessing it with a backheel and Vitinha was up and away. The pass to Doué was measured to perfection and he was never going to miss the one-on-one. Game over.
