Paris St Germain’s Fabian Ruiz celebrates scoring their first goal with Achraf Hakimi and Joao Neves in the semi-final second leg against Arsenal on May 7. — Reuters
IT’s a Champions League final few could have predicted.
No Real Madrid. No team from the mega-rich Premier League. No rejuvenated Barcelona. And no Harry Kane-inspired Bayern Munich.
Instead, it will be Paris St Germain and Inter Milan facing off to be a somewhat unlikely winner of the biggest prize in club football.
Neither club was among the favourites when the new-look, 36-team league phase of the competition rolled out in September.
Indeed, PSG – without Kylian Mbappe and at the start of the post-galacticos era – guaranteed their place in the knockout stage only by winning their final game of the league phase.
Months later, however, PSG have been widely admired as perhaps the most stylish team in the competition after ending the title hopes of a succession of English opponents in their latest bid for their first European title.
PSG’s Joao Neves shakes hands with Arsenal’s Declan Rice at the end of the match. — AFP
Meanwhile, three-time champions Inter, another team lacking superstars but well-coached and with a never-say-die spirit, have gone under the radar once again like they did when reaching the final in 2023 and losing to Manchester City.
Here’s a closer look at the details of the final, the teams and their route to the title match:
Munich’s Allianz Arena will host the final on May 31. It’s the fifth time the German city has staged the European Cup’s title match.
The first three – 1979, 1993, 1997 – were at Munich’s previous home, Olympiastadion.
The Allianz Arena was the host for Chelsea beating Bayern in a penalty shootout in 2012.
American rock band Linkin Park will play the pre-match show.
Inter players and staff celebrate after scoring a goal against Barcelona. — AP
Real Madrid earned almost US$154mil (RM665mil) from their title-winning campaign in the Champions League last season and this season’s winner should get more.
Last year’s prize fund of more than US$2.22bil (RM9.58bil) rose by 25% this season in the expanded format featuring more teams (36, up from 32) and more games (eight instead of six in the first stage).
So expect PSG or Inter to earn at least US$170mil (RM734mil) if the team wind up as champions.
These coffers can be further boosted across June and July, when both teams will be in the United States for the expanded 32-team Club World Cup.
Winning that competition could net PSG or Inter more than US$100mil (RM431mil) from the US$1bil (RM4.31bil) prize money fund.
The finalists have never met in the Champions League.
That’s a refreshing rarity for two big clubs who regularly compete in Europe.
PSG became the third French team to reach the European Cup final on two occasions, after Reims (1956 and ‘59) and Marseille (1991 and ’93).
PSG’s other time was in 2020, when losing to Bayern Munich 1-0 in Lisbon.
PSG’s road to Munich have gone mostly through England.
PSG players celebrate after scoring another goal against Arsenal at the Parc des Princes. — AP
After seeing off fellow French club Brest in the playoffs, PSG have beaten Liverpool, Aston Villa and lastly Arsenal in successive rounds in the knockout stage – having also defeated then-Premier League champions Manchester City in a key victory in the next-to-last round of the league stage.
Qualification was in the balance at that stage, with PSG having won just one of their first five league games only to win their last three.
Inter were two-time European champions before PSG were even founded in 1970, after titles in 1964 and 1965, while the Italian team added a third European crown in 2010.
Unlike PSG, Inter qualified directly to the last 16 after finishing in fourth place, conceding just one goal in their eight league games.
In the knockout stage, Simone Inzaghi’s team overcame Feyenoord in the round of 16, Bayern in the quarter-finals and Lamine Yamal and Barcelona in a pair of epic legs in the semi-finals.
PSG’s relatively brief history were underwhelming until the club were bought in 2011 by Qatar Sports Investments.
Then came the football boom in the capital and the arrival of trophy after trophy – well, at domestic level anyway.
PSG have won 11 of the last 13 Ligue 1 titles but now the hardware the Qatari owners want is the Champions League.
Paris St Germain fans celebrate near the Champs Elysees avenue after their team reached the final. — Reuters
There will be extra satisfaction if it happens after a change in approach that has seen the club shed the superstars – Lionel Messi, Neymar and Mbappe – and rely on mostly young and hungry replacements, such as midfielder Joao Neves and forward Desire Doue.
It has been a more financially turbulent story at Inter, who have been owned by US investment fund Oaktree since May last year after the eight-year tenure of Chinese retail giant Suning came to an end amid mounting debts.
For three years before that, Inter were owned by a consortium led by Indonesian businessman Erick Thohir, who bought out Massimo Moratti.
PSG have already clinched another French league this season, while Inter are still in a fight with Napoli to retain the Serie A title. — AP
