The Champions League tournament is over, and Paris Saint-Germain finally broke through, reducing Inter Milan to ashes (5-0) in the most lopsided European final ever. (Four different previous finals finished with a four-goal difference, the most recent being AC Milan’s 1994 win over Barcelona.)
The final may have been a 5-0 routing, but this list goes deeper than one match. From breakout stars to managerial masterclasses, the Champions League gave us plenty to talk about. Here are the biggest winners and losers of the final.
Champions League winners
Paris Saint-Germain
You can say what you want to about their ownership (and don’t worry, I will later in this feature), but it’s hard to argue with the results. They won this with youth, as teenagers Désiré Doué and Senny Mayulu both put their names on the scoresheet.
The oldest player in their starting lineup was 31-year-old Marquinhos. To think, last December they had picked up one point in four Champions League matches, after defeats to Arsenal, Atlético and Bayern were sandwiched around a draw to PSV. Did anyone think that PSG would be here?
Luis Enrique
The former Barcelona coach didn’t just prevent his young players from losing their heads during the biggest game of their season. He also thoroughly outcoached Simone Inzaghi. So much so that Inter barely got any attacking chances during the match. For a coach who followed his sacking at Barcelona with unsuccessful stints at the head of AS Roma and Spain’s national team, the win showed he still has his tactical chops and his ability to make his players peak at the right time.
Désiré Doué
Maybe Lamine Yamal isn't the next great destroyer of defenses in this sport. Maybe this French kid will give him a run for his endorsement deals. Seeing the 19-year-old run all over Inter's defense, it's easy to think that.
Liverpool
Taking PSG to penalties now looks like a huge accomplishment in hindsight. The French champions could so easily have lost in that quarterfinal and been an afterthought today. So let's recall how close all this came to not happening.
Champions League losers
Inter Milan
For all the winning the nerazzurri did this season, they came away without a trophy to show for it. Their 39 victories got them second place in Serie A, ousted in the Coppa Italia semifinals and the Supercoppa Italiana finals by AC Milan, and then this. Coach Simone Inzaghi is now casting doubt on his future at Inter, but that could just be the nearness of it all talking. Inter need to retain the services of this coach who has brought six trophies to the club in the previous three seasons.
Barcelona
Their fans vented on social media about how ashamed they were to lose those insane games to a team that then got taken apart in the final. Maybe they should spare a thought for the coach that they fired after he won them La Liga because his tactics were too defensive. Luis Enrique didn’t want to leave Barcelona, but he applied the club’s philosophy to lead PSG to the treble.
Human rights
Maybe Manchester City’s success set all the Middle Eastern sheikhs on their current path of sportswashing, and maybe PSG’s win doesn’t really change any of that. Still, even amidst the team’s most brilliant play, it’s hard not to see the autocratic government’s oil money paying for it all. Then again, it could be worse. Saudi-owned Newcastle could be lifting this trophy this time next year.