It has taken almost 15 years of enormous expenses by their Qatarese owners and a arrears of the signing of glamorous superstars, but Paris Saint-Germain goes into the Champions League final against Inter Milan as the favorites to finally win the coveted trophy for the first time.
A club that has made a habit for years to collapse on spectacular fashion in Big Champions League matches has been transformed this season as an exciting young team, brilliant coaches coached by Luis Enrique, has won the continent.
As soon as they may have been ridiculous by football fans in Europe who reject their domestic dominance because of the enormous financial benefit they enjoy – PSG has just won their 11th Ligue 1 title in 13 years and eighth French cup in a decade.
Now, however, they are taking admiration of Rivals – “This is the most complete team we are dealing with,” said Arne Slot, whose Liverpool team in March lost in the last 16 to PSG.
The Parisian bid to dominate Europe began in 2011, when Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) bought a club in Dire Straits.
Their investment immediately catapulted PSG in the top 10 richest clubs in Europe and the turnout has since been dizzy.
More than two billion euros ($ 2.28 billion) was spent on transfers, and by last year PSG's annual turnover of more than 800 million euros had made them the third-rich club in the world according to analysts Deloitte, behind Real Madrid and Manchester City.
Those two clubs are the last two winners of the Champions League, while PSG's some earlier appearance came in the final in 2020, when they lost Bayern Munich behind closed doors in Lisbon during the Covid Pandemic.
PSG's Qatari president Nasser al-Khelaifi initially said that the plan was to win the Champions League within five years after buying the club.
That did not happen, while signing both Neymar, for a world record 222 million euros, and Kylian Mbappe in the same summer in 2017 was not enough to deliver the largest price in Europe.
PSG was indeed even backwards after signing Lionel Messi in 2021.
Change of approach
“It is a trophy that the club has been waiting for a long time, but it is very difficult to win,” said Pedro Miguel Pauleta, a Star PSG striker in the first decade of this century.
The emergence of their current success goes back to 2023, when the chronic Unfit Neymar and the aging and unmotivated Messi left.
That was the summer Luis Enrique arrived, to replace Christophe Galtier to become the eighth coach of the Qatar era.
With their record scorer Mbappe who led the attack, PSG received the semi -final of last season the Champions League and lost to Borussia Dortmund.
By that time, Mbappe had made it clear that he would leave, but Luis Enrique remained that his team would be better without the France -Superster.
“Last season we were also a good team. I said we would improve the side. Players came in and all the statistics say that we are a better team now,” said the Spaniard last week.
Hungry Young Team
The former Barcelona boss needed a young, energetic and hungry team to make a success of his desired style of football and they have recruited some of the world's most exciting young players.
Center-back Willian Pacho, midfielder Joao Neves and Wingers Bradley Barcola and Desire Doue have been excellent additions.
Ousmane Dembele has turned by Luis Enrique into a clinical Finisher who has 33 goals this season.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia joined Napoli in January, and the oldest player in the team is now Marquinhos, at the age of 31.
“We have the players to win the Champions League this year, next year or in eight years. We have the basis on which we can build a great team for the future,” said Khelaifi in a recent interview with German media.
“The new star in Paris Saint-Germain is the team and I am really proud of the way in which we have transformed the philosophy of the club in such a short time.”
It can even be said that the new star is the coach, so it is him to deliver in Munich.
“We started to prepare for this when we started training for the season. It was in everyone's heads at the club from that moment,” he said last weekend.
“It is a game that we have marked in the calendar. We come in very good condition, confidently, and we are determined to go into the history of the club.”