Paris Saint-German champions of Europe for the second time in a row, Arsenal defeated on penalties. The triumph of Middle Eastern money and a final that did not disappoint expectations.
Like in Munich, but this time suffering to the core. PSG returns to the top of Europe, wins the Champions League by beating English champions Arsenal on penalties and becomes the first team other than Real Madrid capable of making the back to back in the Europe that counts since the old Champions Cup gave way to the new championship of the Old Continent.
For Luis Enrique it is the definitive consecration, if it were needed. The one raised to the sky in Budapest is the third big-eared trophy of his coaching career, but while the first arrived (Berlin, 2015) under the protective wing of Barcelona, the two given to PSG are entirely the result of his way of understanding football. Which is anything but comfortable and accommodating, as Gigio Donnarumma learned the hard way when he was sent away from Paris despite his leading role in the ride a year ago.
Paris Saint-German’s triumph at the Puskas Arena in a grumpy and balanced, tactical and long-controlled final – the exact opposite of the walk against Inter in Munich – was a great little masterpiece from the Spanish coach. PSG wins and wins again because it is forged in the image and likeness of its leader, capable of attacking, releasing all its quality and also of rising against the opposing current. Suffer and restart, keep the ball and attack. All in a single team that opened an almost unique cycle in Europe when it chose to betray its origins.
The Paris encore is also confirmation that the money coming from the Middle East has definitively taken over European football. The Emirati investments of have appeared in the Champions League roll of honor over the last five years Khaldun al-Mubarak and Manchester City and the mountain of money poured in by Nasser Al-Khelaifi on behalf of the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar. For more than a decade they played the part of the (not too) stupid rich people, those who at most won at home, however prestigious, but had to stop on the threshold of the most important prize.
This is no longer the case. The geography of European football has changed and so has sporting results. It is no coincidence, in short, that PSG triumphed twice in the Champions League when they chose to rely on Luis Enrique, abandoning the policy of collecting champions, piling talents and salaries on top of each other without giving them a shape: the collective counts more than the individual, the lesson through which Luis designed the road to victory. Pep Guardiola did the same in Manchester with the sheikh’s money.
The final in Budapest was beautiful even if it didn’t reach the heights of quality of the players’ gestures seen in the previous series of the season. Woe betide, however, if you measure the value of a match only by the number of goals. PSG-Arsenal had all the best you could ask for from coaches and teams with different philosophies, learned from memory. It was balanced, tactical, reasoned and controlled: it was football with a capital C, with all due respect to gamers at all costs and the football video game they want to serve up.
Arsenal lost because they missed some details. He was very good at building his final on the immediate advantage of Havertzintense in defense and then vertical in counterattacks. The errors of have condemned her Eze And Gabriel from the spot, his people cried because they dreamed for the first time but they must console themselves for a season in which the taboo of the Premier League has already fallen. Arteta he got to this point in the seventh year of a management filled with great football and many disappointments: no one sent him away. This is also a lesson.
