By Martin Graham
Paris St-Germain clinched their long-awaited first Champions League title with a commanding 5-0 win over Inter Milan on a memorable night in Munich. The French side delivered a breathtaking display, widely regarded as one of the finest team performances ever witnessed in the competition’s history, previously known as the European Cup.
Leading the charge was teenager Desire Doue, who dazzled with a performance that firmly established him as a future global star. Alongside Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal, Doue now stands at the forefront of a new generation poised to shape the future of the sport.
For head coach Luis Enrique, the victory carried deep personal and emotional significance. The 55-year-old Spaniard joined an elite group by becoming only the sixth manager to lift the Champions League trophy with two different clubs, having previously won it with Barcelona in 2015.
Following the final whistle, an emotional Enrique paid tribute to his late daughter Xana, who passed away from a rare form of bone cancer at age nine in 2019. He wore a t-shirt bearing an image of himself with Xana planting a PSG flag—mirroring a moment from 2015 when she helped him place a Barcelona flag on the pitch in Berlin.
The PSG supporters added to the touching moment by unveiling a massive banner showing the father and daughter together, dressed in PSG colours, symbolically planting a flag.
Reflecting on the victory, Luis Enrique said, “It was very emotional at the end with the banner from the fans for my family. But I always think about my daughter.” He emphasized the significance of winning such a major trophy with PSG, stating, “Since day one, I said I wanted to win important trophies, and Paris had never won the Champions League. We did it for the first time. It’s a great feeling to make many people happy.”
The night in Munich was more than just a footballing triumph—it was a moment of catharsis, celebration, and emotional closure for a club and a coach who had both long been searching for this crowning achievement.
