Paris Saint-Germain routs Inter Milan to win the Champions League for the first time

PSG's head coach Luis Enrique lifts the trophy after winning the Champions League tournament at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

MUNICH — Paris Saint-Germain, Champions League winner.

At long last the club that was transformed by Qatari billions and bought and sold a succession of the world’s greatest players in an extravagant bid to get to the top has its hands on the big one.

European club soccer’s grandest prize has a new home after PSG thrashed Inter Milan 5-0 in Saturday’s final in Munich.

The trophy that not even Lionel Messi, Neymar or Kylian Mbappe could deliver to the French club was finally claimed by Luis Enrique, the Spanish coach who has overseen PSG’s shift from the era of galactico signings to one of genuine team-building.

Fitting then that Desire Doue, the 19-year-old French forward emblematic of the club’s new generation, was the chief inspiration on a balmy night. He and substitute Senny Mayulu became the third and fourth teenagers to score in a Champions League final, following Patrick Kluivert in 1995 and Carlos Alberto in 2004.

Doue scored twice and set up another goal in little over an hour on the field before being substituted in the second half.

“I don’t have words,” Doue said. “But what I can say is, `Thank you Paris,’ we did it.”

Achraf Hakimi, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia added to Doue’s double as PSG recorded the biggest win in a final in the Champions League’s 70-year history.

“It’s pride, it’s everything, it’s exceptional,” striker Ousmane Dembele said. “It’s a first for PSG but especially good since we did it in style. We went to Liverpool, to Aston Villa, and played great games. We deserve it and so do the fans.”

Now PSG can truly sit alongside the royalty of European soccer. Not by virtue of turnover or merchandizing, but on the merits of its achievements on the field.

The Champions League is the ultimate barometer of the continent’s elite clubs and up until now PSG has been a flashy contender that always came up short.

That all changed at Allianz Arena, the home of Bayern Munich, one of the titans of Europe, and a fitting stage for PSG’s crowning moment. Not least because it was against Bayern that it lost its only other Champions League final in 2020, leaving Neymar in tears in an empty stadium in Lisbon where fans were locked out because of the pandemic.

On this occasion, thousands of PSG supporters were there to revel in the moment, waving flags, lighting flares and drowning out their rivals from Inter, many of whose supporters left the stadium long before the final whistle.

They’d been partying in the streets of Munich throughout the day, but that was nothing compared to the scenes of joy when Marquinhos held the trophy aloft in front of teammates, with fireworks and golden confetti exploding behind them.

Marquinhos was emotional at the final whistle.

“I have nothing left, I have given everything,” the captain told broadcaster Canal Plus. “I love this team, he fans are proud of us. Make the most of it guys, I love you.”

PSG truly delivered when it mattered after so many setbacks in this competition. If there were any nerves from Luis Enrique’s players it did not show as they dominated Inter from the start.

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 Doue. The forward could have shot, but instead slid in Hakimi to tap into an open net.

Former Inter player Hakimi’s celebrations were muted but PSG’s fans erupted.

Eight minutes later and the lead was doubled -- though this time it relied more on luck than precision as Doue’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 a fourth 10 minutes later and Mayulu then found the back of the net in the 86th, just two minutes after coming on to add his name to the list of teenage scorers in a final.

Luis Enrique, who won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2015, has become the seventh coach to win the competition with two different teams and follows in the footsteps of greats like Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho.

He is the 21st coach to win multiple European Cups. In a treble of trophies with PSG this season -- with the Champions League being added to Ligue 1 and the French Cup -- he matched his same achievement with Barcelona 10 years ago.

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, started targeting 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.

It was the departure of that last stellar trio over the past two years that appears to have 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 PSG 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 may be 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.

James Robson, The Associated Press