Champions League 2024-25 UCL Final

unification

unification

Level: Paul Moody
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Not that I was arsed to watch it (BBC2 had a full night of Bruce Springsteen stuff on instead), but PSG got their hands on the UCL title with a 5-0 win over Inter.

Remember when Baldy claimed that PSG were just a stepping stone for the Qatari state before they invested in Man United. Words to the effect of ‘buying your fags from the corner shop before going into Harrods for your champagne’ or some overblown hokkum!

Penny for Mbappe’s thoughts too?
 
unification said:
Not that I was arsed to watch it (BBC2 had a full night of Bruce Springsteen stuff on instead), but PSG got their hands on the UCL title with a 5-0 win over Inter.

Remember when Baldy claimed that PSG were just a stepping stone for the Qatari state before they invested in Man United. Words to the effect of ‘buying your fags from the corner shop before going into Harrods for your champagne’ or some overblown hokkum!

Penny for Mbappe’s thoughts too?
Click to expand...
The absolutely humiliated Inter.
 
tonyw said:
Hard to get that enthused about PSG winning......

......but it is somewhat amusing that they brought in Mbappe, Messi & Neymar but couldn't buy the Champions League the galactico way, only to finally get over the hump as soon as the last of them has left.
Click to expand...

Not quite recruiting from Poundstretchers in the way Forest won two European Cups but there’s a bit of a thrown together look about this PSG. Forest’s unquestionable basis for European success was, amongst all the ordinariness of the rest, to buy the best goalkeeper in the business - Peter Shilton. PSG look to have done just that too with Donnarumma. One or two of the old guard hanging around like Marquinhos and then basically a fair few misfits in Kvaratskhelia, Vitinha, Hakimi etc.

It’s been quite refreshing this season to see PSG rule Europe as they have and domestically seeing Liverpool win the title with no investment - one bit part player Chiesa - but just well managed and well coached. It shows it can be done and for all those seeing CL money as the holy grail - it definitely helps - there’s a lesson there for all clubs that teams successful at the very summit of club football can still be built as opposed to brought.
 
PSG have, until next season, been the only top flight professional team in Paris, the area that had produced the most players that played at the last World Cup, it’s like there only being one team in London, should be one hell of an advantage. Especially when you add in having the pick of the players in France as well. From a football perspective they never really needed to go the superstar route, they already had a huge catchment area and talent pool to build a team from.

From a marketing point of view though it helped them build the brand I suppose.
 
dickwalton1964 said:
Not quite recruiting from Poundstretchers in the way Forest won two European Cups but there’s a bit of a thrown together look about this PSG. Forest’s unquestionable basis for European success was, amongst all the ordinariness of the rest, to buy the best goalkeeper in the business - Peter Shilton. PSG look to have done just that too with Donnarumma. One or two of the old guard hanging around like Marquinhos and then basically a fair few misfits in Kvaratskhelia, Vitinha, Hakimi etc.

It’s been quite refreshing this season to see PSG rule Europe as they have and domestically seeing Liverpool win the title with no investment - one bit part player Chiesa - but just well managed and well coached. It shows it can be done and for all those seeing CL money as the holy grail - it definitely helps - there’s a lesson there for all clubs that teams successful at the very summit of club football can still be built as opposed to brought.
Click to expand...

Kvaratskhelia was the star of a team that won Serie A and got to a Champions League semi final, being named Serie A “most valuable player” and “young player of the season” in the Champions League. There is nothing about him that is “misfit”.

PSG spent €240m on transfers this season.

They spent c. €450m on transfers last season.

There is nothing about them that is romantic, underdog, thrown together, or anything else. This is another example of the worst excesses in sport triumphing.
 
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RgYellows said:
Kvaratskhelia was the star of a team that won Serie A and got to a Champions League semi final, being named Serie A “most valuable player” and “young player of the season” in the Champions League. There is nothing about him that is “misfit”.

PSG spent €240 on transfers this season.

They spent c. €450m on transfers last season.

There is nothing about them that is romantic, underdog, thrown together, or anything else. This is another example of the worst excesses in sport triumphing.
Click to expand...
This.
 
unification said:
Not that I was arsed to watch it (BBC2 had a full night of Bruce Springsteen stuff on instead), but PSG got their hands on the UCL title with a 5-0 win over Inter.

Remember when Baldy claimed that PSG were just a stepping stone for the Qatari state before they invested in Man United. Words to the effect of ‘buying your fags from the corner shop before going into Harrods for your champagne’ or some overblown hokkum!

Penny for Mbappe’s thoughts too?
Click to expand...

You have to give the Qataris their due, they saw the sense in buying PSG cheaply but then exploiting the vast potential of their geographical location in a hugely under tapped but massive market in Paris/France. Certainly smarter than Jim Radcliffe buying 29% of a busted flush.
 
RgYellows said:
Kvaratskhelia was the star of a team that won Serie A and got to a Champions League semi final, being named Serie A “most valuable player” and “young player of the season” in the Champions League. There is nothing about him that is “misfit”.

PSG spent €240m on transfers this season.

They spent c. €450m on transfers last season.

There is nothing about them that is romantic, underdog, thrown together, or anything else. This is another example of the worst excesses in sport triumphing.
Click to expand...

Amen. Football clubs should not be owned by nation states. It's absurd.

Qatar has managed to sportswash its way to Champions League triumph. Another sad day for football in my opinion.
 
RgYellows said:
Kvaratskhelia was the star of a team that won Serie A and got to a Champions League semi final, being named Serie A “most valuable player” and “young player of the season” in the Champions League. There is nothing about him that is “misfit”.

PSG spent €240m on transfers this season.

They spent c. €450m on transfers last season.

There is nothing about them that is romantic, underdog, thrown together, or anything else. This is another example of the worst excesses in sport triumphing.
Click to expand...

OK, misfit probably a bit over the top but there wasn’t exactly a queue, to my knowledge, for Kvaratskhelia. Who cares what they’ve spent, City done the same and look at Chelsea. They’re on about Garnacho to Chelsea now and if they get Sancho too then they’re basically signing a first team player and his back up from a PL rival - to compliment what they already have down the left.

Well done PSG - a great story.
 
dickwalton1964 said:
OK, misfit probably a bit over the top but there wasn’t exactly a queue, to my knowledge, for Kvaratskhelia. Who cares what they’ve spent, City done the same and look at Chelsea. They’re on about Garnacho to Chelsea now and if they get Sancho too then they’re basically signing a first team player and his back up from a PL rival - to compliment what they already have down the left.

Well done PSG - a great story.
Click to expand...

I mean they have spent an absolute fortune previously on huge names, still spent a relative fortune, have oil wealth state backers, the only club in one of the biggest cities in Europe and the dominant power in one of the biggest countries, so it’s hardly a tiny minnow rags to riches story, they just finally found a more sensible way to make the most of the advantages they have.

I wouldn’t be getting your hopes up that it’s something that Man U can follow given the state they are currently in, miles apart.
 
dickwalton1964 said:
OK, misfit probably a bit over the top but there wasn’t exactly a queue, to my knowledge, for Kvaratskhelia.
Click to expand...
Arguably the only team in the world he wouldn’t have walked straight in at was Real Madrid. He was not a hidden gem, he cost nearly €100m because he was the best player, by miles, in a major league.

dickwalton1964 said:
Who cares what they’ve spent
Click to expand...
Well, given you brought it up in a post that was pretty much entirely about how much money they hadn’t spent, I’d guess you do.

dickwalton1964 said:
City done the same and look at Chelsea.
Click to expand...

Oh no not Chelsea and City I’d never criticise them oh wait.
dickwalton1964 said:
They’re on about Garnacho to Chelsea now and if they get Sancho too then they’re basically signing a first team player and his back up from a PL rival - to compliment what they already have down the left.
Click to expand...

So you’re suggesting Chelsea aren’t the fairytale story that no one was painting them as? 😮
dickwalton1964 said:
Well done PSG - a great story.
Click to expand...
🤮
 
dickwalton1964 said:
OK, misfit probably a bit over the top but there wasn’t exactly a queue, to my knowledge, for Kvaratskhelia. Who cares what they’ve spent, City done the same and look at Chelsea. They’re on about Garnacho to Chelsea now and if they get Sancho too then they’re basically signing a first team player and his back up from a PL rival - to compliment what they already have down the left.

Well done PSG - a great story.
Click to expand...
You're right, it was a real Roy of the Rovers story them winning the Champions League :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:

Clubs like PSG, Man City and Chelsea are what is wrong with modern day football. I have said it before and I'll say it again, the sooner they p**s off to their little closed shop of the super league the better.
 
Yep absolutely rinsed Inter with a very young team against a side with an average age of nearly 31.

Inter had been in a battle for Serie A to the final game. PSG kept players ticking over after winning Ligue 1 three months ago.

Immense talent at PSG but you have to put this one down to the coach who set his team to exploit the weaknesses knowing that if the opposition went toe to toe with them they held all the aces. Really could have ended up 12-2 it was that one-sided.

I was hoping for an Inter win because this oil money in sport is ruining everything.
 
dickwalton1964 said:
Not quite recruiting from Poundstretchers in the way Forest won two European Cups
Click to expand...
Forest had the most expensive player in British history at the time in Trevor Francis, as well as the most expensive goal keeper in Peter Shilton.

All for absolute peanuts in the modern game but let's not pretend that they were running on a shoestring.
 
holdsteady said:
PSG have, until next season, been the only top flight professional team in Paris, the area that had produced the most players that played at the last World Cup, it’s like there only being one team in London, should be one hell of an advantage. Especially when you add in having the pick of the players in France as well. From a football perspective they never really needed to go the superstar route, they already had a huge catchment area and talent pool to build a team from.

From a marketing point of view though it helped them build the brand I suppose.
Click to expand...
No it was multi billionaires playing football manager and who can I sign next. Not will I win anything
 
TheDukeOfBanburyshire said:
Amen. Football clubs should not be owned by nation states. It's absurd.

Qatar has managed to sportswash its way to Champions League triumph. Another sad day for football in my opinion.
Click to expand...
This is of course absolutely true. But they also played some awesome stuff, which doesn’t automatically come with spending a lot.
 
werthersoriginal said:
This is of course absolutely true. But they also played some awesome stuff, which doesn’t automatically come with spending a lot.
Click to expand...

Oh absolutely. I can't dispute the quality of the product they've developed. Luis Enrique is clearly a very talented coach, and the individuals at his disposal are incredible. It's just a shame how the resources provided to him to generate that product originated.

But yes, a terrifying level of skill, desire and tenacity from minute one wasn't it.
They had a very clear game plan and Inter didn't have an answer.
 
swolley said:
As Holdsteady alludes to earlier, PSG have been the only ligue A team in Paris for many seasons . Any one have an idea why? Compared to London where there are half a dozen top flight clubs for instance.
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It’s a strange one, they didn’t even have a top flight club for a while. But then as werthers has said they don’t have the history of a football league like we do, London was slow to catch on with football (as we know it) starting in the north west and midlands, but relatively speaking compared to France it caught up fairly quickly, Arsenal were the team of the 1930s and London clubs have made up a chunk of the top flight ever since. It’s probably helped English football as one London club would dominate, having plenty of them spreads that power about.

I have always thought the densely populated, smaller size of England has helped create such a fantastic football league system, we were obviously the first as well, have a decent transport system, the sheer number of truly local rivalries, we are a country where people a few miles down the road can have distinctive accents, it’s all combined to make us very lucky, France doesn’t have lower league football teams all getting thousands through the doors (let alone 50 plus thousand in a national fifth tier, but then it’s much bigger and more spread out.

Apologies for boring on but it’s a subject I find interesting.
 
swolley said:
As Holdsteady alludes to earlier, PSG have been the only ligue A team in Paris for many seasons . Any one have an idea why? Compared to London where there are half a dozen top flight clubs for instance.
Click to expand...
well they were created out of the merger of Paris FC and Stade Saint-Germain in 1970. Previous big teams like Racing struggled financially, and the investment went to teams in the more traditional football heartlands in the Southern half of the country. The actual city of Paris is also fairly small (2.1million population).
 
Scotchegg said:
Forest had the most expensive player in British history at the time in Trevor Francis, as well as the most expensive goal keeper in Peter Shilton.

All for absolute peanuts in the modern game but let's not pretend that they were running on a shoestring.
Click to expand...

Yeah, let’s forget their number 9, Gary Birtles, who they picked up from Long Eaton for £2,000 and a set of tracksuits, or Gaelic footballer turned footballer, Martin O’Neill. Or what about 20 fags a day, a stone and a half overweight, John Robertson who Clough miraculously turned in to the best winger in Europe. McGovern. Barrett, O’Hare, Needham, Lloyd etc - finished, as good as on the football scrap heap. Frank Clark, a plodding full back on a free from struggling Newcastle. Where nowadays would you find a Championship striker - Kenny Burns at about 5’9” - being converted into one of the best centre backs in Europe ? They were able to spend on Francis and Shilton because everyone else was on a free or a two bob signing like Birtles.
 
dickwalton1964 said:
Yeah, let’s forget their number 9, Gary Birtles, who they picked up from Long Eaton for £2,000 and a set of tracksuits, or Gaelic footballer turned footballer, Martin O’Neill. Or what about 20 fags a day, a stone and a half overweight, John Robertson who Clough miraculously turned in to the best winger in Europe. McGovern. Barrett, O’Hare, Needham, Lloyd etc - finished, as good as on the football scrap heap. Frank Clark, a plodding full back on a free from struggling Newcastle. Where nowadays would you find a Championship striker - Kenny Burns at about 5’9” - being converted into one of the best centre backs in Europe ? They were able to spend on Francis and Shilton because everyone else was on a free or a two bob signing like Birtles.
Click to expand...

Yes, Forest built a side that performed well above their level with the best manager of his generation. But the idea that they were bargain basement is simply wrong. They were one of the best backed clubs at the time.
 
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