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The European club season is coming to an end. We have already learned the winners of two European cups. Tottenham won the Europa League, and their London neighbors Chelsea won the Conference League. The fate of Europe's most prestigious trophy will be decided in Munich. PSG and Inter will fight for the Champions League trophy. For the Parisian team, this could be their debut victory in the tournament, and for the Italians, the first since 2010.
PSG
Luis Enrique said towards the end of the season that he was interested in titles, not records. And PSG have lived up to that claim this season. The chance to finish the season unbeaten for the first time in Ligue 1 history was sacrificed for the more ambitious goal of becoming the first Parisian team to win the European Cup. However, there were also records to be broken: this year the unbeaten away run in Ligue 1 reached 39 games, meaning that Milan's record for the top five leagues in the 1991-93 model was surpassed. PSG won all their domestic titles with ease and without effort. The league title was won with six rounds to go, and the French Super Cup, won against Monaco in January, was followed by the Coupe de France in May. PSG did not feel Reims' resistance in the decisive match, scoring three goals in the first half, so the last attempt before the final went perfectly and with little effort.
Now PSG is on the verge of a historic achievement: this is the first time a French team can win a treble. And for that, there was only one step left to take in the Champions League final. However, this step will clearly be the most difficult. In general, it is quite surprising that the Parisians reached the decisive match only for the second time in history, after losing to Bayern in 2020. This time, in Paris, they did not bet on superstars, as in previous years, but on a team where everyone can become a star in a separate match or even in an episode. A vivid example of this thesis is Dembele, who finally emerged from the shadows of the stars and became the leader himself, winning the Ligue 1 goalscoring race. In addition, the current PSG is a very coaching team, and Luis Enrique's contribution to this success is the greatest. For the Spaniard, this success could be the second in his career, after the victory with Barcelona in 2015. We must not forget about the shadowy father of this success, Luis Campos, who helped assemble the current squad.
PSG's reach of the final seemed unlikely at the start of the year, when the capital club were on the brink of elimination in the league stage. Only a recent run of three consecutive victories allowed them to advance to the knockout stages. The most notable of these victories was a 4-2 victory over Manchester City, coming from 0-2 down.
in half an hour. But the victory over the English was only the beginning, as in the knockout stages PSG mainly dealt with representatives of the Premier League. After crushing Brest 10-0 on aggregate, Enrique's team successively defeated Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal. Strangely enough, the semi-final with Arsenal turned out to be the easiest, as the Merseysiders and Birminghamers defeated the Parisians and were able to win the game mainly thanks to the titanic work of Donnarumma. Now the Parisians have to compete with a representative of Serie A, and it will definitely be a different experience. Enrique understands this too: "This is Inter's second final in three years. They are ready. They have not made many changes to the squad. This is a team that dominates set pieces. It depends on us whether we go into the final with the right attitude. "We have grown a lot this season and the players have improved a lot. I think the strength of the team is the most important thing. After many years of coaching experience, you learn something every day and I am constantly improving with this team." So if PSG become the second French team to win the Champions League and the first Ligue 1 team to win a continental title since the 1995/96 season, it would be the logical conclusion to many years of efforts by the capital team.
Inter
Inter recently also claimed to have repeated the feats of Mourinho's time and won the treble. However, these dreams were met with harsh reality. First, the Internazionale lost the Coppa Italia final to Milan 0-3, and then lost the Scudetto in dramatic style. Inzaghi's men had a chance to take advantage of Napoli's points deficit in the penultimate round, but two goals conceded by Pedro ultimately led to the loss of the title. A win over Como in the final round was not enough, and the Neapolitans surpassed the Internazionale by one point. Interestingly, Mourinho, who, I admit, was not very enthusiastic about his former team's ability to repeat their 2010 victory, has now expressed his support for the Milanese team ahead of the final.
And indeed, a victory in the decisive match of the Champions League would turn the season from disappointing to victorious for Inter. Although the achievements of Inzaghi's team in this draw already look strong. The coach commented on the performance of his team in the last two rounds: "The players did an incredible thing. We played four amazing games against two world-class teams, such as Bayern and Barcelona." It is also interesting how Inter's style changed during the game. If in the league stage the "Inter" played more pragmatically, losing only one game, and in the remaining matches they won six consecutive victories and drew one, then in the play-off round the Milanese showed that they can give a worthy answer to even the most effective opponents in attack. The two-legged quarter-final series with Bayern was won 4-3 on aggregate, while the Italians played out one of the most memorable semi-final encounters in the tournament's history against the Catalans. After a 3-3 draw, Inter were saved by unexpected hero Acerbi, and Fratesi won 4-3 in extra time.
As Enrique rightly pointed out, Inter have the advantage of experience over PSG. The average age of Inzaghi's team is significantly older than that of their opponents. The average age of the oldest players who have played for Milan in the current tournament was 31.1, while the youngest in PSG's squad is 23.2. In addition, many of the players in Inter's current squad already have experience of playing in the decisive match of the tournament, albeit unsuccessfully. In 2023, the Nerazzurri lost 0-1 to Manchester City. The statistics of the Milan team seem deadly for the opponent, according to which Inter have led in 11 of the 14 games in this round and have trailed their opponent by only seven minutes. So it will be very important for Inzaghi's team to open the score in the final to feel their usual confidence. But against PSG, surprisingly for a team with such a rich history in European Cups, Inter have not yet played an official match, but only friendly matches, mainly during summer tournaments. The fact that in all the finals held in Munich within the framework of the Champions Cup and Champions League, the team that has never previously held the trophy has always won is not in the Italians' favor. Nottingham Forest - 1979, Marseille - 1993, Borussia Dortmund - 1997, Chelsea - 2012. However, Inter have already proven with this draw that they are ready to surprise and destroy the expectations of the majority.
PSG - Inter: preliminary lineups
PSG has no serious personnel losses, and only Kimpembe, who has not played for almost the entire season, is in hospital. Inter's participation in the match is in question for Pavard and Zielinski, who recently returned to training.
"PSG"
"INTER"
