PSG vs Inter Milan: Champions League final sees contrasting styles and a shared philosophy | OneFootball

The pinnacle of European football sees contrasting styles and a shared philosophy

This Champions League final pits the youth and freedom of Paris Saint-Germain against the experience of wily old Inter Milan. It is a contrast of two different styles, but with one matching philosophy: to play as a team.

That has tended to be the case with Inter teams of the past, though Simone Inzaghi has harnessed a togetherness that has returned the team to the pinnacle of European football, his side now in their second final in just three years.

PSG, for all their Ligue 1 titles since receiving significant Qatari investment in 2011, have seldom enjoyed such cohesion. But a change of tack means they no longer prioritise purchasing big-ticket items. Ego and in-fighting have been waved away, allowing Luis Enrique to build a well-balanced but thrilling side.

There is a feeling in Paris, and certainly among their fans, that while they have lost the individual majesty of players such as Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, they have in turn become a unit, every player on the same wavelength at long last.

PSG train in front of the Champions League trophy

AFP via Getty Images

The club better represents their Parisian roots these days, too — no longer a landing pad for galactico talents with questionable work ethics. It is also the first PSG team with no superstars since the club’s mega-rich era began.

Superstars though they may not be, they are here for a reason, and the performances over the last eight months of the likes of Vitinha, Nuno Mendes, and their most potent attacker, Ousmane Dembele, have been vital in knocking out Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal to reach the final here in Munich.

Dembele is down to earth, sat sipping his shake in PSG’s pre-match press conference at the Allianz Arena on Friday night and softly spoken when called upon.

What a season he has had.

It started in auspicious circumstances by being left out of the team which lost 2-0 to Arsenal in their second League Phase game. One goal, and one red card, in nine games followed, but since the turn of the year he has been unstoppable. Between January 5 and February 11, he scored in eight consecutive games, notching 15 goals, including back-to-back hat-tricks.

Dembele is now what Barcelona thought they were signing when they paid Borussia Dortmund almost £136million to buy a scrawny, raw, far less complete version of the France forward back in 2017.

Ousmane Dembele has finally hit the heights long expected of him

Mike Egerton/PA Wire

It has taken the best part of a decade but Dembele is finally flirting with world-class status, playing at a level he was always expected to reach but still understated and without seeking the limelight.

At 28, he is now the senior man in an exuberant young forward line that scored 92 goals en route to defending their Ligue 1 title and 33 on their journey to this Champions League final. His supporting cast: the fleet-footed teenager Desire Doue, the versatile Bradley Barcola, another Frenchman, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, the Georgian who started the season as Napoli’s ‘Kvaradona’ and could end it as a quadruple-winner across both clubs.

Standing in their way are the Nerazzurri’s vastly experienced stalwarts, hoping to slow the game down and frustrate, with their well-oiled three-man defence keeping PSG at bay.

Inter’s mission is to use the agony they felt after losing the final two years ago to Manchester City as fuel to go one better. Inzaghi will place his faith in the experience of his trusty veterans: Matteo Darmian (35), Yann Sommer (36), Marko Arnautovic (36), Henrikh Mkhitaryan (36) and the irrepressible Francesco Acerbi (37).

Simone Inzaghi is back at another final

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They have fresh wounds to heal, too, having been pipped to the post on the final day of the Serie A season by Napoli, beaten to the league title by Antonio Conte, Romelu Lukaku and the unlikely new son of Naples, following Kvaratskhelia’s exit, Scott McTominay.

Inter’s journey here has enjoyed a sprinkling of luck but has been founded mostly on dogged determination and a never-say-die attitude befitting of players giving it one last shot in the winter of their careers. Their semi-final victory over Hansi Flick’s outstanding Barcelona, sealed with a 93rd-minute equaliser and 99th-minute winner for 7-6 on aggregate, is among the greatest two-legged ties in the competition’s 70-year history.

Win tonight and they will leapfrog Manchester United and join Ajax on four European Cup titles. Lose, and PSG will become only France’s second champions after Marseille in 1993, who also did so in Munich.

It is the first Champions League final in 21 years without a Premier League, La Liga or Bundesliga club involved. A fourth star for Inter, or a new name on the trophy?