The Parisians' first European Cup success proved worth the wait, as they turned in a record-breaking display in Munich
The 2025 Champions League final looked too close to call. Paris Saint-Germain had beaten one Premier League team after another on their way to the final, but Inter had shown remarkable reserves of resilience and no end of quality in beating Barcelona in the semis.
Consequently, an epic and, more importantly, even encounter was anticipated at the Allianz Arena on Saturday.
What we witnessed, though, was a brutal beat-down, as PSG finally claimed their first European Cup with a devastating – and record-breaking – 5-0 rout of Inter, whose famed defence was no match for Luis Enrique's wonderful array of wingers.
GOAL runs through all of the big winners and losers from a historic final in Munich…
Getty ImagesWINNER: Desire Doue
Luis Enrique had one major selection call to make before the game: Desire Doue or Bradley Barcola on the right wing? Both had been in fine form, but Barcola was coming off the back of a terrific two-goal showing in last week's Coupe de France win over Reims.
However, Luis Enrique went with the 19-year-old Doue, and that decision paid off spectacularly.
Doue made history inside the opening quarter of the game by becoming the youngest player to both score and assist in a Champions League final. When he effectively killed the game as a contest in the second half with a wonderfully composed finish, he became the first player ever to be directly involved in three goals in the fixture.
Consequently, it's genuinely hard to think how Doue can top this performance – but it should be absolutely thrilling watching him try. Indeed, before the game, some neutrals were lamenting the absence of Lamine Yamal from the showpiece, but Doue proved that there's more than one outstanding teenage talent in the game right now.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportLOSER: Federico Dimarco
Federico Dimarco's shoddy defensive work has been a cause of increasing concern this season, and we saw precisely why on the game's opening goal, with Dimarco playing both Doue and Hakimi onside by taking up a far deeper position in the area than any of his team-mates.
There was obviously an element of fortune about PSG's second, as Doue's deflected effort could have gone anywhere, but Dimarco, who was torn to shreds by Yamal in the semi-finals, was once again at fault for cowardly turning his back on the ball.
As a result, Inter became the first team to concede twice in the opening 20 minutes of a Champions League final – and Dimarco was the main reason why.
Getty Images SportWINNER: Achraf Hakimi
Achraf Hakimi demonstrated his enduring affection for Inter by refusing to celebrate his 12th-minute tap-in, but that didn't make it that much easier for Nerazzurri supporters to take. The Morocco international rather personifies the vast difference in these two clubs' economic situations, as Inter had to sell Hakimi to PSG in the summer of 2021 in order to balance the books.
Hakimi was a very good player back then – as he proved by winning the Scudetto during his one and only season at San Siro – but he's gone to a whole other level over the past four years.
With his strike in Munich, Hakimi equalled Ian Harte's record for most goal involvements for a defender across a single Champions League campaign (nine), while he was also excellent as ever in defence. There aren't many more complete footballers in the game today and he would be a most worthy recipient of this year's Ballon d'Or (if such prizes were ever given to right-backs!).
Getty Images SportLOSER: Simone Inzaghi's Inter
This feels like the end of an era at Inter – and it's an awful shame for such a good side that it's come to a conclusion in such crushing circumstances.
Remember, just a few months ago, Inter were chasing a treble of their own, with Simone Inzaghi's men top of Serie A and through to the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia. However, they gifted Napoli the Scudetto on the penultimate matchday, after being humiliated by a painfully average AC Milan side in the Coppa.
The hope was that Inter would end up winning the trophy that mattered most to them, the one they so unluckily missed out on in Istanbul two years ago, but they actually saved the worst for last by turning in an abject display at the Allianz Arena.
The Nerazzurri fielded the third-oldest team in a Champions League final and it showed as they were given a footballing lesson by a team five years younger than them (the biggest average age gap we've ever seen in this particular fixture).
What happens next is hard to say. Inzaghi admitted himself that he's received offers from elsewhere, so there's no guarantee that he'll still be at Inter next season. It's also clear that several senior players will never get another chance to grace the club game's grandest stage.
Time effectively caught up with Inter – and before they could win the title their efforts over the past three years deserved.
