On Saturday, the 2024-25 European club season comes to an end with the traditional closer, theĀ UEFA Champi ons LeagueĀ final. Held in Munich this year, the head-to-head is a tantalizing one that few expected: the “born again”Ā Paris Saint-Germain, led by manager Luis Enrique and a young, hungry squad, taking on wily veterans Inter Milan, who have a unique formation, plenty of savvy stars and an underrated tactician in Simone Inzaghi.
Both teams have taken down giants to reach the showpiece finale — PSG eliminatedĀ LiverpoolĀ andĀ ArsenalĀ in the knockout rounds, while Inter Milan fended off fanciedĀ BarcelonaĀ andĀ Bayern MunichĀ to punch their ticket — and now face a winner-take-all showdown.
So who will win, and what storylines are bubbling under the surface? ESPN writers Mark Ogden, Gab Marcotti, Julien Laurens, Tom Hamilton and Bill Connelly walk you through what to watch for and give their picks for who will claim the prize Saturday night.
A final of youth vs. experience
The contrast is evident. Inter’s likely starting XI have an average age of 30 years and 4 months; Paris Saint-Germain’s is 24 and 7 months. Inter have eight players who featured the last time they were in the Champions League final, two years ago;Ā MarquinhosĀ is the only PSG starter to have played in a Champions League final at any time in his career.
That’s the most obvious difference between Saturday’s finalists, and what impact it will have will depend heavily on how the game is played.
A higher tempo evidently favors the fresh legs of PSG, whereas a slower, nervy grind ought to give Inter the edge, at least on paper. But both sides are far more multifaceted than they appear. Both can play a possession game, poking and prodding until the right opening appears — witnessĀ Ousmane DembĆ©lĆ©’s opener against Arsenal, a result of 26 passes — but both can be direct and hit you going north-south. PSG have the speed of Dembele, Desire DoueĀ andĀ Bradley Barcola; Inter have the chemistry of Marcus ThuramĀ andĀ Luarato Martinez, a rare front tandem in the modern game.
It’s not as simple, therefore, to liken it to a basketball game and suggest Inter want fewer possessions and PSG want more, because both coaches can and do mix things up. Rather, perhaps precisely because these teams are managed by two of the best around, we might see some myths get buried Monday night. Inter might show that the parameters of fitness and athleticism have changed and that top pros can go strong into their early 30s. PSG might show that experience is overrated relative to game intelligence and tactical instruction.
So don’t just boil this down to experience vs. athleticism. There’s much more to it. — Marcotti
Battle of the superstar, MVP goalkeepers
The Champions League is usually all about the superstar forwards and their ability to win games out of nothing, fromĀ Lionel MessiĀ andĀ Cristiano RonaldoĀ toĀ Mohamed SalahĀ andĀ VinĆcius JĆŗnior, but this time around, it could be decided by the goalkeepers.
Inter’sĀ Yann SommerĀ and PSG’sĀ Gianluigi DonnarummaĀ were the players who got their teams over the line in the semifinals, and they have produced similar performances on the international stage withĀ SwitzerlandĀ andĀ Italy, respectively.
Sommer, who spent a year in Munich with Bayern in 2023 after 11 seasons withĀ Borussia Monchengladbach, replacedĀ Andre OnanaĀ at Inter following theĀ CameroonĀ international’s move toĀ Manchester United two years ago, and the 36-year-old has been a clear upgrade on Onana, with his performance against Barcelona in Inter’s dramatic semifinal second-leg win producing at least five world-class saves. Donnarumma had a similar performance for PSG in their semifinal second leg against Arsenal, when he pulled off incredible saves from Martin Odegaard,Ā Gabriel MartinelliĀ andĀ Bukayo SakaĀ to keep Luis Enrique’s team ahead.
Sommer and Donnarumma have had to bounce back from difficult periods in their careers to establish themselves as two of the world’s best, and they will both be looking to win their first Champions League title in Munich.
If it goes all the way to penalties, it could be too tough to call between the two goalkeepers. Sommer was the hero of Switzerland’s Euro 2020 round-of-16 shootout win againstĀ FranceĀ when he saved aĀ Kylian Mbapper spot kick, while Donnarumma hasĀ won a remarkable six of seven shootoutsĀ for club and country, including the Euro 2020 final againstĀ EnglandĀ at Wembley, to give him an 87.5% success rate.Ā — Ogden
Back in 2015, Luis Enrique won the treble (Champions League, LaLiga,Ā Copa del Rey) withĀ BarcelonaĀ and had an unstoppable front three ofĀ Lionel Messi,Ā Luis SuĆ”rezĀ andĀ Neymar. Ten years on, he has the chance to achieve another one but with another club, and he could equal something that only Pep Guardiola, his former club teammate at the Camp Nou, has done in the history of the game: winning two trebles with two different clubs.
Luis Enrique has had to wait 10 years to get another shot. That’s a very long time for a manager so obsessed with the game, though for him, it’s not just about winning; it’s about how you win, and this final will be very different than the previous one too. Then, Luis Enrique pretty much inherited Guardiola’s entire Barcelona squad except for Luis Suarez and Ivan Rakitic, who arrived the same summer as him, and the winning pedigree and mentality that came with it.
For this PSG squad, it’s the opposite. This is his team. This is the Luis Enrique project, and this is only Year 1. The Asturian has built it all, getting rid of Neymar,Ā Marco VerrattiĀ (just to name the two biggest names) and others because they didn’t fit with what he was constructing. He recruited the players he wanted (defenderĀ Willian Pacho midfielderĀ JoĆ£o Neves, playmakers Khvicha Kvaratskhelia andĀ DĆ©sirĆ© DouĆ©) to complete his jigsaw and deliver on his ambitious style of play: high press, high intensity, fluidity within the structure, pace and attacking flair.
His team have been the best in Europe in 2025; it just has to finish the job on Saturday.Ā
-ESPN
Be the first to comment