Don’t be fooled, PSG still bought the Champions League ...Middle East

Before we get to lasting image of Nasser Al-Khelaifi being held aloft at the height of Paris Saint-Germain’s celebrations in Munich, let’s focus on the positives, because that’s what sportswashing does.

This was a stunning performance. The most dominant display in a Champions League or European Cup final, ever. It was ruthless and breathtaking and put years on this aging Inter side in the space of 90 minutes.

At the heart of this 5-0 demolition job was a remarkable 19-year-old, Desire Doue assisting the opener before scoring twice to become the first player to be involved in three or more goals in a Champions League final.

Doue symbolises this new PSG, likewise their final goalscorer, Senny Mayulu, who was born in a Parisian suburb, came through their academy and capped off this night of nights with a celebration for the ages – for his boyhood club.

This is what PSG were angling for, and they’ve managed this maiden Champions League triumph under one of the most likeable coaches going, with Luis Enrique admirably channelling his grief to drive him forward.

Somehow he is a two-time treble winner having tragically lost his daughter, Xana, in between those 2015 and 2025 feats. Few of us can imagine such pain, never mind working through it or still utterly mastering your craft.

“You’ll be the star that guides our family,” Enrique said after her death in 2019, and his t-shirt after the final on Saturday night was a nod to the Xana Foundation, honouring her amid the exultation, while PSG supporters did the same, revealing a touching banner that recognised words their head coach had said back in January.

“I have an amazing photo of her planting a Barcelona flag into the turf,” Enrique said. “I want to be able to do the same with a PSG flag. My daughter won’t be there in the physical sense, but she will be there spiritually, and that’s very important to me.”

A moment for this beautiful tifo

PSG fans reveal their tribute to Luis Enrique and his daughter Xana, who passed away in 2019 pic.twitter.com/onf7h2pLyV

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 31, 2025

To segway from such a beautiful sentiment is difficult, but it remains important to remember how PSG the club got here.

They may have ditched the superstars, as we were repeatedly reminded on Saturday night, but there is still a sportswashing project behind the heart-warming stories.

This is a defining moment for Qatar. They dazzled when hosting the 2022 World Cup, many of us guilty of forgetting their human rights abuses when Lionel Messi lifted the trophy in Doha, and they have done it again here.

It was a night the state-backed Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) have been waiting for since taking over PSG in 2011. Al-Khelaifi in particular, the tennis player who has become one of the most influential figures in football, has pined for this silverware.

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No 'bling-bling', girlfriends or Galacticos - meet the new PSG

Game, set, match. And having poured so much money into this team, no wonder then that he wanted to be at the heart of PSG’s celebrations. Not long after Marquinhos lifted the trophy, he joined the players on stage, thrice thrusting the trophy into the air himself before getting onto a staff member’s shoulders.

It was a reminder of PSG’s journey, but alas, shiny young players playing shiny football. Sorry, what were you saying about sportswashing?

“This is going to reverberate around European football next season,” Rio Ferdinand said on TNT Sports. “Some might say this is a win for football. Youth and togetherness.”

In a way, then, he’s not wrong, but don’t be fooled by the notion that no Lionel Messi, Neymar or Kylian Mbappe makes this team inexperienced or built on the cheap. PSG still spent £202m this season and £383m last.

The winning XI that will go down in history cost £396.5m to assemble, while the front three of Doue, Ousmane Dembele and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia cost £143m.

The cost of PSG’s starting XI

That isn’t to discredit their achievement, but merely to remind, while it serves as a warning to the Premier League, not only the teams they beat along the way to win – Manchester City, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal – but also to Chelsea, who spent £624m in the same period PSG spent £585m and only have a third-tier European trophy to show for it.

Tottenham have spent £377m the past two seasons and have a Europa League. Manchester United have spent £385m and have an FA Cup. Arsenal have spent £290m and, well, maybe need to spend some more.

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PSG have invested wisely, therefore, still spending more than most but crucially ditching one approach: getting rid of the “bling bling” and focusing on a new strategy that has already bore fruit. Other clubs will surely be taking note.

Not Real Madrid, mind, so a penny for Mbappe’s thoughts. You left that, when they wanted to build it around you, all to lead a new era of Galacticos.

It didn’t work when David Beckham joined them in 2003, and it isn’t working now. Second best in Spain and nowhere near in Europe.

At this rate, Trent Alexander-Arnold only adds to the sense Real are deeper down the Galactico hole, just when PSG have shown them there is another way.

It took them a while to get there, but with a nation behind them, PSG will take some catching.

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