The Champions League final is set, as Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain will meet in Munich on the last day of the month to determine who claims European glory. Let’s recap the action from the semifinal.
Champions League Winners
Neutral fans
If those two games between Barcelona and Inter Milan didn’t raise your pulse, just go away. You don’t need to be reading this column. After going two goals down in the second leg, it seemed like Barcelona had completed an amazing comeback in the 88th minute when Raphinha saw Yann Sommer’s save of his shot come back to him. The Brazilian’s follow-up attempt found the inside of the far post and put the Spanish giants ahead at a rain-soaked San Siro.
Unfortunately for them, the home team mounted a comeback of their own, as Denzel Dumfries took a loose ball down the right wing and crossed along the ground for Francesco Acerbi, who knotted the tie deep into stoppage time. In the extra frame, sparingly used striker Mehdi Taremi acted like a post player and screened off the defender while sending a pass to Davide Frattesi that his fellow sub lashed in for the winner. Whether Inter Milan win that final or not, the interisti and the rest of us who thrill to this sport will be talking about that game for years to come.
Paris Saint-Germain
It’s taken them five years to get back to the Champions League final, and they’ve done it by embracing a youth movement. Instead of Lionel Messi or Zlatan Ibrahimović trying to lead them to European glory while taking it easy against the minnows of Ligue 1, PSG’s attack has a bunch of sprightly forwards, the oldest of whom is 27-year-old Ousmane Dembélé. Credit their transfer market expert Luis Campos for rebuilding the title winners from the ground up and Coach Luis Enrique for shepherding them here.
Gianluigi Donnarumma
PSG might well have gone out if it wasn’t for their goalkeeper stopping a close-range shot from Gabriel Martinelli in the 4th minute and a powerful drive by Martin Ødegaard four minutes later. He might just be the best backstopper in the world, and more than any other player on his side, he got his team the win.
Yann Sommer
It’s not often that a goalkeeper has a great game when he gives up three goals, but he can say it. The Inter shot-stopper flashed across his goal to deny Eric García on a 3-on-2 break, then made a great diving save on Lamine Yamal’s shot from outside the box. Maybe best of all was the Swiss netminder’s fingertip save on Yamal’s left-footed smash in extra time to preserve the win. Wojciech Szczęsny made some fine stops on the other end, but Inter’s win happened because Sommer outplayed him.
David Raya
And since we’re talking about goalkeepers, how about Arsenal’s guy? He didn’t fall for Vitinha’s slow-stepping penalty, refusing to commit until the Portuguese attacker struck the ball and saving the shot low to his left to keep Arsenal in the tie. They don’t appreciate the Spanish netminder enough in Gunnerland. Or in Spain, for that matter.
Denzel Dumfries
Just like the Hollywood star he’s named after, he was unstoppable. The Dutch right-back assisted on two of Inter’s goals and caused Barcelona all kinds of trouble down that side. PSG has Nuno Mendes guarding their left flank, but they’ll need to give the Portuguese defender some help to keep Dumfries from running similarly rampant in the final.
Marcus Thuram
He did not make the scoresheet for Inter, but he kept the ball in Inter’s possession during the buildup for Acerbi’s goal and laid the ball off to Taremi for Frattesi’s winner. The Frenchman did the little things that led to Inter’s win.
Champions League Losers
Arsenal
Yet another season as the bridesmaid in this competition. If some traditional Number 9-type striker gets on the end of Jurriën Timber’s 3rd-minute cross instead of Declan Rice, does he bury it instead of heading it wide? There’s no guarantee that Kai Havertz or Dušan Vlahović or Victor Osimhen scores that one, but this is the type of question that haunts a team all offseason long, especially after their last best chance for a trophy slides from their grip.
Barcelona
It’s not just Real Madrid who complain about officials. The blaugrana continued an unsavory tradition of acting like entitled whiners when they lose. Remember the 2010 game when the Nou Camp groundskeepers turned the sprinklers on Inter after their incredible performance? This game was away, and it featured more whinging from Pedri and Coach Hansi Flick about the refereeing. Barcelona’s defending cost them this tie and not the officiating.
Lamine Yamal
Cue Frankie Valli singing, “So close, so close and yet so far.” Besides the aforementioned shots, the kid had a shot in the 92nd minute that rang the post when it might have put the tie away. In the extra frame, his cross found the head of Róbert Lewandowski only for the Pole to put his close-range header over the bar. All the greats have days when they’re just that little fraction off, and we’ll certainly see a lot more of Yamal in the Champions League, but his lack of precision contributed to Barça’s defeat.
Szymon Marciniak
With 18 minutes gone in the first half of extra time, the Polish referee blew the whistle even though Acerbi had put Alessandro Bastoni through on goal. It’s no guarantee that the defender would have finished the chance, but what kind of call was that? Also, we don’t care for his politics.