Around 90 minutes before kick-off in the Champions League final at the Allianz Arena on Saturday, the team sheets were published.
Luis Enrique, bidding to become just the second coach to win a treble of a domestic cup, league title and the Champions League with two different clubs, named the youngest ever starting XI in the final of the competition in the 21st century.
Inter coach Simone Inzaghi, meanwhile, was aiming to atone for a 1-0 defeat to Manchester City two years ago, when Pep Guardiola became the first coach to win the treble with two different sides.
Inzaghi, who may well be heading for Saudi Arabia, with Al-Hilal reportedly keen to secure his services, went with experience.
Six Inter players who started in Istanbul featured from the off in Munich, and Inzaghi became the first coach to select at least three players over the age of 35 in a Champions League final.
The average age of PSG’s starting line-up was 25 years and 96 days, five years and 146 days younger than Inter’s – the biggest age gap between two starting XIs in a Champions League final.
5y 146d – The average age of PSG’s starting lineup this evening (25y 96d) is five years & 146 days younger than Internazionale’s (30y 242d), the biggest ever age gap between two starting XIs in a UEFA Champions League final. Opposites.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 31, 2025
If the question was which approach would come out on top between youth and experience, the answer was emphatic in a record-breaking, 5-0 victory for PSG.
The kids are alright
Luis Enrique made a bold claim earlier in the season. With Kylian Mbappe having followed Lionel Messi and Neymar out of the door, PSG were facing the prospect of a new era.
The Galactico approach hadn’t paid off in PSG’s quest for European glory. They had reached only one final, losing to Bayern Munich behind closed doors in 2020.
But PSG swiftly set about ensuring they banished those ghosts in style, going on to record the biggest ever victory in a European Cup/Champions League final.
Desire Doue lit it up. Having coolly teed up Achraf Hakimi’s opener, the 19-year-old then struck twice to become the first player to be involved in three goals in a Champions League final.
Doue is just the third teenager to score in a Champions League final after Patrick Kluivert in 1995 (for Ajax v Milan) and Carlos Alberto in 2004 (for Porto v Monaco), while he is the youngest to net a brace in the tournament’s showpiece match.
He also became the youngest player to score and assist in a Champions League final, and just the sixth player overall.
Doue’s sublime display was backed up by the brilliance of Ousmane Dembele and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
Dembele provided two assists, including playing Kvaratskhelia – a winner of the Champions League, Coupe de France, Ligue 1 and Serie A this season – to make it 4-0, before substitute Senny Mayulu, at the age of 19 years and 14 days, became the third-youngest player to score in a European Cup/Champions League final after Kluivert and Brian Kidd.
While Luis Enrique trusted youth and that faith was repaid, Dembele is a player in his prime years.
At 28, Dembele is finally living up to his potential. He may not have scored on Saturday, but he was the first player to provide two assists in a Champions League final since Marcelo in 2018, while the forward’s 14 goal contributions in the competition this season (eight goals, six assists) is the second-most for a French player in a single campaign, after Karim Benzema (17) in 2021-22.
Luis Enrique: Treble specalist
Football is not the be-all and end-all. Luis Enrique lost his daughter, Xana, to cancer in 2019. She was nine years old.
A touching banner, depicting Xana planting a PSG flag in the pitch, was unfurled by the PSG fans. Luis Enrique wore a shirt depicting the same thing as he celebrated becoming the sixth coach to win the Champions League with two different teams.
Xana’s passing came four years after Luis Enrique’s first Champions League triumph, and his first treble. He won that one with Barcelona, and it came against an Italian team (Juventus).
“Making history has been a goal since the beginning of the season,” Luis Enrique told Canal + at full-time.
“It’s time to have a big celebration! I felt a real connection between the players and the fans. I think we deserve it. It’s difficult to play at this level, but we knew how to handle the pressure.”
But this was a fitting finale to what has been a remarkable season from PSG. They have been the best team in Europe, not just in this competition.
Sure, Barcelona could also lay a claim to that, but they fluffed their lines in that thrilling semi-final defeat to Inter.
PSG, who will soon jet off to the United States for the Club World Cup, end 2024-25 having scored 152 goals in all competitions, trailing only Barca (174) among teams in Europe’s top five leagues.
They top the European charts for expected goals (145.7), non-penalty xG (137), shots (1,097), shots on target (458) and big chances (288).
PSG became only the third side to score at least five goals in a European Cup/Champions League final after Real Madrid against Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960 (7-3) and Benfica against Madrid in 1962 (5-3).
And what is it about Munich that makes it the place where maiden European champions are minted?
This was the fifth European Cup/Champions League final to be held in Munich. The victors in each of the five finals were winning the trophy for the very first time, with PSG joining Nottingham Forest (1979), Marseille (1993), Borussia Dortmund (1997) and Chelsea (2012).
It was Bayern who denied PSG in Lisbon five years ago, but this Bavarian city will forever hold a special place in Parisian hearts, and in Luis Enrique’s heart, too.
What now for Inter?
A season that promised so much for Inter has faded out horrendously. In mid-April, they were gunning for a treble. But they lost to AC Milan in the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia, before finishing second behind Antonio Conte’s Napoli in Serie A.
Their incredible defeat of Barcelona in the semi-finals offered a glimpse of what this team can do on their day. Yet a team that had been built on solid foundations was carved open time and time again.
Coming into the final, Inter had trailed for just 1.2% of their Champions League matches, falling behind in three games but never for more than 370 seconds in any of them.
They had also spent the highest percentage of their time winning (50.8%), yet PSG’s spellbinding attackers ensured Inter became the first team to concede two goals inside the opening 20 minutes of a Champions League final to put the Nerazzurri firmly behind the black ball.
Indeed, Inter trailed for 81 minutes and seven seconds, more than in their 14 previous games in the competition this season combined (16 minutes and 38 seconds).
2 – For the first time, a team have conceded two goals in the first 20 minutes of a UEFA Champions League final. Shock. #UCLfinal #UCL pic.twitter.com/qWUFnw79NG
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) May 31, 2025
Francesco Acerbi, the fierce warrior, was the epitome of Inter’s issues.
One of Inter’s heroes against Barca, Acerbi became the fifth-oldest outfield player to start a Champions League final (37 years, 110 days), behind Paolo Maldini for Milan in 2007 (38 years, 331 days), Lothar Matthaus for Bayern in 1999 (38 years, 66 days) and Ryan Giggs for Manchester United in 2011 (37 years, 180 days).
He was made to look his age, though, by Doue, Dembele and then Barcola, who sat the veteran campaigner down at one stage late on, only to slice wide.
Barcola made amends, though, with a neat one-two to play in Mayulu – the static Acerbi was the man playing the teenager onside as Inter became the first team to concede five goals in a Champions League final.
It felt like a last chance for this Inter team to truly leave their mark. If Inzaghi, who is the ninth coach to lose two or more European Cup/Champions League finals, is to leave, then he bows out on a low note, and getting over this blow is going to be some task for a squad that could do with a refresh.
Inter, like PSG, are featuring at the Club World Cup. When asked if he would be in charge of the Nerazzurri or Al-Hilal at that tournament, Inzaghi simply said he “did not know how to answer that”. Time will tell.
