How a New Direction Could Fire PSG to Champions League Glory

It might seem strange to modern football fans but Paris Saint-Germain was not always the powerhouse it is today. The club didn’t even exist before 1970 and success was nowhere near as common as it has been in the last 15 years, even during its previously most successful period winning trophies during the 1990s.

All that changed in 2011, of course, when new owners from the Middle East came in and bankrolled a seemingly never-ending supply of elite players. PSG instantly became the dominant team in France. But the new owners always had one specific title as a target – the Champions League.

There had been regular European football – and even Cup Winners’ and Intertoto Cup success – but PSG had never lifted the most famous trophy in European club football. Now the club has earned a place in this year’s Champions League final, where it will be the favorite with all the California betting apps, against Inter Milan. That achievement has been won by changing styles and personnel, though. In this article, we will look at how one of the wealthiest football clubs on the planet moved away from big-money signings in order to improve.

This will be the first time in 21 years that a Champions League final will be played without a club from England, Spain, or Germany. Both PSG and Inter have made it to the final in recent years but it is the French side that has yearned for the title more than most. Players of the caliber – and status – of Neymar, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Lionel Messi have been brought in to win the biggest prize of all, but to no avail. Even homegrown stars, such as Kylian Mbappé, were unable to bring the trophy back to the Parc des Princes.

It often felt as though any head coach of PSG was desperately trying to fit all of his incredibly talented players into one team, without actually trying to create a group of footballers that played as a team. On far too many occasions, it actually seemed that the coach had no real control over his superstar charges at all. The top players in the world dictated who would play – and where. That all stopped at the end of last season when Mbappé finally moved to Real Madrid. Luis Enrique, the current head coach, proclaimed that PSG would improve. His words have turned out to be true.

Many of the fans had been crying out for years for the club to concentrate on youth and harness the immense talent to be found in the French capital. Top clubs in all the big leagues have been fielding native Parisians for years to great effect, but PSG had looked elsewhere to fill its roster with galacticos. That method was ultimately unsuccessful and Enrique promised a new mentality – and now it might even bring Champions League glory.

It is not as though PSG has stopped paying vast amounts for new players, however. Following the example of Bayern Munich in Germany, the best talent from all around the French football pyramid usually makes its way to the capital. Last summer alone saw Désiré Doué snatched from Rennes for €50 million, alongside other big signings, including João Neves from Benfica and Willian Pacho from Eintracht Frankfurt. The club was also able to supplement its talent by buying Khvicha Kvaratskhelia from Napoli for €70 million during the January transfer window. But even these signings were not as grand as the mega deals of the past.

One of the most noticeable changes in the way PSG has played this season is that every single player is interested in defending as well as attacking. Opponents used to know that they could leisurely play out from the back in the past, as the likes of Neymar, Mbappé, and Messi were never going to track back. Now, even star player Kvaratskhelia will help out to break up opposing attacking play.

Critics of the old Paris Saint-Germain complained that the galacticos didn’t “want it enough”. Heads would soon go down if anything went wrong and the best teams in Europe would always be able to exploit defensive weaknesses to win games. Now the whole team plays as a team and has actually won more games in the league than any PSG team since the Qataris took over in 2011. That domestic dominance has been replicated in the Champions League, as PSG have brushed aside mainly English opponents in the knockout rounds. The opening league phase was actually something of an ordeal for PSG but the players have been impeccable since the round of 16.

Enrique has led a revolution at the club that has highlighted the excellent youth system as being just as important – if not more so – than signing new players. The former Barcelona star has prioritized collective thinking, rather than individual brilliance. His high-pressing, high-speed team has exploited any weakness in even the best opponents and now Champions League glory is within PSG’s grasp.

The fact that it is Inter that will face PSG in the Allianz Arena in Munich at the end of the month might pose Enrique and his team the biggest problem of all. This is another team that was not expected, by many too fixated on England and Spain, to make it this far. The Italian side has its own strengths that could test PSG unlike any other in this year’s competition. But even if PSG doesn’t end up lifting the trophy, this new club mentality means that it will undoubtedly be back soon – and a Champions League final victory is surely not far away.