Le Independent: Paris Saint-Germain s championship should trigger serious thoughts on the future of football

This article is compiled from INDEPENDENT, author Miguel Delaney

Qatar finally won the Champions League. This should have been a ridiculous sentence, but this sporting event itself was a farce. This is hardly a football game, but a show of crushing strength - on multiple levels.

Paris Saint-Germain defeated Inter Milan 5-0. This game is the most one-sided final in history, both in terms of the actual score and the atmosphere of the game. Previously, even the great Real Madrid team in 1960 had never had a precedent for a single goal win of five goals.

Paris Saint-Germain became the second club held by a foreign government to win the Champions League, while Inter Milan unfortunately lost in both finals. If the team felt pain when they lost to Manchester City 0-1 in 2023 because they felt they should have won, then this time there was only embarrassment.

This is not to blame Inter Milan too much, even though Simeone Inzaghi made many mistakes. The strength of the two teams is very different. Inter Milan must be nearly perfect if they want to have even a slight chance, but they are too far from this standard deviation. Instead, Paris Saint-Germain looks to be the most comprehensive European champion.

Louis Enrique built this team and achieved remarkable achievements, not only winning his second Champions League trophy, but also achieving the second triple-winning career. It's hard not to be happy about him, he's a passionate but kind person. His daughter passed away in 2019 at the age of nine, and this sad experience adds an emotional touch to the victory. Enrique originally planned to put a Paris Saint-Germain flag on the championship moment to commemorate the time spent with his daughter Shana in 2015, but PSG fans showed a banner that reproduced the scene at that time, only to the color of their team. This scene is moving.

Now, his new team also has the right young players, as can be seen from the 19-year-old who scored three goals. Superstar Desir Douai scored two more goals after assisting for the first goal. Sunny Mayulu, who came on as a substitute, secured the victory for the team, setting a record. In addition, there are many gratifying stories within the team. For football, a unique player like the 24-year-old Georgian midfielder core Kvaratskhelia is now expected to be the best player in the world, which is a good thing. He shone in the game and scored his fourth goal. Of course, this is done again from a quick counterattack, a scene that runs throughout the game.

However, you can't avoid the fact that it's all for purposes that are totally unrelated to football, and Qatar enjoys this glory as they did for the 2022 World Cup.

Is this really the original intention of football? Shouldn’t this trigger the deepest doubts about the long-term development direction of the sport? To find out, just think about the PSG chairman Nasser Algelefi, who is next to UEFA President Alexander Seferin, becoming one of the most influential figures in football, and his ultimate responsibility lies in taking responsibility for Emir (the title of aristocratic in the Arab country).

The Qatari official has been promoted to President of the European Club Association, which has played an important role in reshaping the entire event. However, here, this club football event has become a display of many football ills, and the record scores are justifiably the severity of the problem. Part of this is also part of Paris Saint-Germain's engaging game performance. It never seems appropriate to use the word "sports whitewashing" to describe this phenomenon, but this is what is happening.

This is largely a political manipulation of sports, and Qatar's "trophy club" has now extended its clutches to the European Cup itself.

You just need to think that Inter Milan is the real football giant, who has won this event three times before and is still the 14th richest club in the world. However, since it is also owned by an asset management fund, there is still a huge gap between them and Paris Saint-Germain.

Inter Milan's total revenue of £327 million is just slightly higher than Paris Saint-Germain's recently announced wage expenditures - not income - which are also reflected.

Enrique's team may be young, but it is also expensive, with Douai and Bradley Bacola alone spending nearly £100 million. They also benefited from the same loopholes that made the Ligue 1 a laughing stock, while Inter Milan, by contrast, has experienced a tough title battle.

Paris Saint-Germain's youthful vitality is also fully revealed. There is a huge gap in vitality between the two teams. Previously, Pep Guardiola said it was difficult to tell where to put pressure on the Inter team, and Paris Saint-Germain seemed to find it easy.

This is a young man against a veteran. You can suddenly understand why Mkhitaryan, Damian and other players who have revived their lives because of Inzaji are not in the highest paid clubs. Lautaro Martinez also did not show his moments at the giant club.

However, now the European Championship trophy is a group of unknown players two years ago, and they seem to be the future of the sport. Enrique himself is also qualified to be the best coach in the world. His football philosophy is far more complex than others, giving people a refreshing feeling. Opponent teams simply don't know how to deal with them. Enrique's tactics always surprise them.

Here, the gap between the two teams is so big that it's almost embarrassing that Paris Saint-Germain easily scored the first goal just 12 minutes into the opening game. Douai showed a very high ball quotient and selfless spirit, passing the ball across the board, while Ashraf Hakimi faced a very small defensive pressure, making people wonder whether the ball was offside. But in fact, it doesn't. Inter Milan simply couldn't get close.

From then on, the game was no longer a match, and that was obvious shortly after the game began, and Douai’s goal in the 20th minute said it all. Even though Inter Milan had a long adjustment during the half-time break in the opening few seconds, the first move was that Kvaratskhelia successfully broke through and got another chance.

This is why this game feels so weird. It no longer looks like a football game, but more like the inevitable torture in a long wait, Paris Saint-Germain makes Inter Milan more and more painful. This is a very enjoyable game, but it is uneasy to think of it. This is the two sides of football in 2025, and this grand final shows this to the fullest.