Fireworks lit up the Parisian sky on Sunday, May 31, as Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) players lifted the Champions League trophy on the Allianz Arena pitch in Munich, Germany. After defeating Inter Milan 5-0, coach Luis Enrique’s team emphatically inscribed the club’s name into the annals of Europe’s premier football competition. Finally, “after so many years of struggle and hardship,” as the supporters’ anthem so aptly puts it.
“The suffering only makes it sweeter and how Paris Saint-Germain had suffered in the Champions League after the Qatar Sports Investments takeover of 2011,” wrote the Guardian the day after the match. Twelve consecutive qualifications for the knockout stages, “12 assorted sets of heartbreak, some scarcely believable,” the British daily added. Until May 31, 2025, “when the French champions broke through, when they delivered on the obsession of their owners, of everybody connected to the club; 13th time lucky.”
“There are moments in life that you remember forever. Every detail. The waiting, the clothes you wear, the route you take to the stadium, the beer you have at your usual bar with friends. Maybe even the lucky pair of socks you put on for big occasions,” recalled La Gazzetta Dello Sport. Inter Milan fans will not soon forget a single moment, not even the most trivial, of this final where their dream quickly turned into a “nightmare.” Never before had a battle for the European title ended with such a margin: Five goals, a “thrashing.” Marquinhos and his teammates “toyed” with their rivals, summarized the Guardian.
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