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The 2025 Champions League final promises to entertain in a way that previous editions of European football’s annual showpiece often don’t.

Paris Saint-Germain and Inter are two high-octane teams fully deserving of their chance to lift the most iconic trophy that club football has to offer in Munich on Saturday night.

They each have enormous strengths that the other side will have to address and counter, which will become the key and likely defining battlegrounds on which the final will hinge.

Ultimately, only one can emerge victorious and be crowned European champions.

Wide areas are going to be key in deciding this final.

Both teams utilise full-backs and wing-backs enormously in their creative play, whether it be making decoy runs to create space for others or, or being the sharpest point of attack breaking the lines.

It could easily be a case of attack is the best form of defence, particularly down Inter’s right and PSG’s left, where Denzel Dumfries and Nuno Mendes will be up against each other.

Dumfries is a player in form, having a direct hand in five of the seven goals Inter scored across two legs against Barcelona in the semi-finals. He will be hoping to get forward and have more of the same impact again in the final, which could also serve to pin back Mendes. But if the PSG man gets the upper hand it could be opposite effect and work massively in PSG’s favour.

Those battle lines will also be drawn for Achraf Hakimi and Federico Dimarco on the opposite side.

Ousmane Dembele, although enjoying the best season of his career, is not a typical centre forward and will not engage with Inter’s centre-backs in a way that someone like Erling Haaland might.

They key is to track the Frenchman’s movement and stop him receiving the ball with space to shoot, typically less involved in general build-up than his teammates until the chance is there for the taking. He also won’t occupy the same space all night, likely to interchange with the others in PSG’s forward line, so understanding that and not getting confused by who’s picking up who is massive for Inter.

It won’t be 37-year-old Francesco Acerbi who takes responsibility for Dembele, but one of Yann Aurel Bisseck or Alessandro Bastoni certainly might dedicate themselves to limiting his impact.

Already, it would be a huge shock if Gianluigi Donnarumma doesn’t walk away with the Yashin Trophy and Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper title off the back of this season. The CIES Football Observatory already considers him the best in the world.

The Italian giant has proven his worth and then some for PSG during their European adventure so far, making numerous big saves in key moments across the knockout rounds. In the wake of the semi-final against Arsenal, one newspaper headline remarked that Bukayo Saka will be “haunted” by the saves that Donnarumma pulled off and what could have been for the Gunners.

Even if Inter manufacture the chances, they still have to beat Donnarumma if they want to earn a fourth Champions League crown.

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The 2025 Champions League final promises to pit two colossal forces of European football against each other, in search of club football’s greatest prize.

For the first time in 21 years, since Jose Mourinho’s Porto beat Didier Deschamps’ Monaco in 2004, there will be no Spanish, German or English side contesting the final. But no clubs are arguably more deserving of being crowned European champions this season than Paris Saint-Germain and Inter.

After struggling in the league phase, PSG have ripped through the best that England has had to offer in the knockout stages, pummelling Liverpool before eventually emerging victorious on penalties, then seeing off a plucky Aston Villa, and lastly brushing Arsenal aside.

They have never won the European Cup or Champions League before, only once getting to the final, when they lost narrowly against Bayern Munich in an empty stadium in Lisbon in 2020.

Inter have a much richer history at Europe’s top table, three-time winners – albeit not since 2010, and finalists more recently in 2023 when Manchester City were 1-0 victors. Their knockout route this time has been similarly tough, facing a Bayern Munich side in the last eight determined to reach the final in their home stadium, as well as a high-powered Barcelona in the semis.

Neither team has had a ‘dead rubber’ end to their respective domestic seasons in preparation for this game. PSG may have already had the Ligue 1 title sewn up, but contested the Coupe de France final against Reims last Saturday (insert reference to result, on for treble?). Inter meanwhile, have been neck and neck with Napoli in Serie A, hoping to retain their scudetto (reference to outcome).

Current form (all competitions)

Newly crowned Ligue 1 Player of the Year, Ousmane Dembele could only make an appearance as a substitute in the semi-final second leg against Arsenal because of a minor hamstring injury. He sat out the next game back in Ligue 1 too, but the noise from PSG is that it has been nothing serious.

Long-serving defender Presnel Kimpembe is ruled out, but he had already been relegated to a fringe player even when fit earlier in the campaign.

PSG predicted lineup vs Inter (4-3-3) Donnarumma; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes; Neves, Vitinha, Ruiz; Doue, Dembele, Kvaratskhelia.

By his own admission, Inter captain and talisman Lautaro Martinez wasn’t fully fit for the decisive semi-final second leg against Barcelona. He scored his team’s crucial opening goal but only lasted 70 minutes and has remained a doubt as medical staff try to get him ready to go.

Matchwinner Davide Frattesi was another who played against Barcelona with an injury.

Frattesi, Benjamin Pavard and Henrik Mkhitaryan should all be fit. The big doubt is Martinez, but having played through the pain once, don’t count against him putting his body on the line again.

Inter predicted lineup vs PSG (3-5-2) Sommer; Bisseck, Acerbi, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Martinez, Thuram.

If we’ve learnt nothing else from the rest of the knockout phase, it’s that these two teams can score goals at will, and concede them too.

Since getting their act together on matchday six of the league phase, PSG have netted 31 times at an average of 2.8 per game. But it’s been only six clean sheets in 16 European games this season.

Inter were the exact opposite during the league phase, breached only once at the back in eight games, but scoring just 11 or their own. That has largely gone out of the window in the knockouts, where it’s been 15 scored across eight games and just a single clean sheet. In the semi-final against Barcelona alone, both teams racked up 13 goals between them across 210 minutes.

Champions League finals don’t tend to be thrilling end to end affairs – four finals in a row between 2020 and 2023 all finished 1-0, including PSG and Inter’s most recent appearances. Last year, it wound up a comfortable 2-0 win for Real Madrid in the end.

But these two clubs feel like the pair to break that often anti-climactic nature of the Champions League final. Be braced for goals, and possibly even extra-time to decide it.

Prediction: PSG 2-3 Inter (aet)

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On Saturday night in Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter will meet to determine which club wins this season’s Champions League.

PSG have never got their hands on the famous trophy, despite years of domestic dominance, while Inter are seeking to reclaim it, 15 years after their most recent triumph in 2010.

Luis Enrique has done away with the superstar culture that existed during the first decade of QSI ownership in Paris. After the Neymar and Lionel Messi experiments ultimately didn’t work out, Kylian Mbappe was the last to go – in search of Champions League glory at Real Madrid.

It’s ironic, then, that his new club exited the competition at the quarter-final stage, and his local boyhood team could now win it at the first opportunity without him.

For Inter, who were beaten narrowly by Manchester City in 2023, it feels like the culmination for a team that has been built out of the ashes of a poor decade following 2010’s treble.

GK: Gianluigi Donnarumma – The former teen prodigy already looks like a solid contender to clean up the goalkeeper prizes at the next Ballon d’Or and Best FIFA Football Award ceremonies. As much as PSG are incredible going forward, they owe their place in the final to Donnarumma.

RB: Achraf Hakimi – Like Denzel Dumfries on the Inter right, PSG depend enormously on their marauding full-back for plenty of their attacking creativity. His runs will stretch and test the back three and seek to pin the left wing-back, likely to be Federico Dimarco.

CB: Marquinhos – 30 years of age and already more than 600 senior career games under his belt – almost 500 of those have been in a PSG shirt. To have a club legend and adopted Parisian lift a first ever Champions League trophy would be a great story.

CB: Willian Pacho – The 23-year-old from has slotted straight in at the back, next to the skipper, since arriving from Eintracht Frankfurt last summer. He’s another recent South American success story and part of what appears to be a new Ecuadorian golden generation, 20 years after the first.

LB: Nuno Mendes – Portugal’s flying left-back missed most of last season because of a major hamstring injury, requiring surgery. But his return to fitness and form in 2024/25 was recently rewarded by a new long-term contract until 2029.

CM: Joao Neves – Not every player plucked from Portuguese football for big money thrives – Renato Sanches should know, ironically part of the deal that took Neves from Benfica last summer. But the 20-year-old is far doing really well and joined nine of his colleagues in Ligue 1’s Team of the Season.

CM: Vitinha – Wolverhampton Wanderers declined to use a €20m option to make a loan from Porto a permanent deal in 2021. Now, his estimated market value is three times that, but he arguably holds even more importance to PSG than that number alone would suggest.

CM: Fabian Ruiz – Spain’s Euro 2024 winner perhaps characterises the Enrique era at PSG more than anyone else. He struggled to get into the starting XI in the second half of last season but fought his way back into the manager’s thoughts by doing the simple things exceptionally well.

RW: Desire Doue – 26 goals and assists (check numbers before publication) in his first season at PSG, following last summer’s €50m transfer from Rennes, was the best start he could have wished for. Celebrates his 20th birthday three days after the final and will be hoping to have already had the perfect present.

ST: Ousmane Dembele – Should PSG win this final, the 2025 Ballon d’Or surely awaits for someone widely written off just a couple of years ago. Old disciplinary issues resurfaced when he was dropped for a league phase clash with Arsenal in October, but this calendar year has been different class.

LW: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – January transfer windows are notoriously challenging, but PSG managed to land someone who has improved their team for a sensible price. The Georgian superstar has been afforded plenty of rest for domestic games since April to keep him fresh in Europe.

GK: Yann Sommer – After a decent career, the Swiss stopper has become one of the best goalkeepers in the world in his mid-thirties and has proven to be masterstroke of Inter’s recruiters. He replaced Andre Onana in 2023 for only a fraction of the price.

CB: Yann Aurel Bisseck – This is perhaps the one place in Inter’s back three that might be up for grabs. The 25-year-old German has taken a slightly circuitous route to the top but has generally impressed in a breakout season. Benjamin Pavard will be his biggest rival.

CB: Francesco Acerbi – The veteran defender, who turns 38 next season, showcased his attacking prowess in the semi-final against Barcelona, scoring the stoppage time equaliser in the second leg. He had never won a trophy before his 30th birthday, but this could be his eighth.

CB: Alessandro Bastoni – Part of the furniture at Inter these days, although this season is the first time he has surpassed 50 appearances in a single campaign. Watch out for an ability to step into midfield and create chances – he’s got six (check figure before publication) assists to his name in 2024/25.

RWB: Denzel Dumfries – Having either scored or assisted five of Inter’s seven goals across both legs of the semi-final, the Dutch wing-back has come into his own at exactly the right time. The coaching staff have been careful with him since a hamstring injury in April, so fitness shouldn’t be an issue.

CM: Nicolo Barella – Regular transfer links with Premier League giants Liverpool and Manchester City in recent months is plenty of an indication as to Barella’s standing among elite midfielders. Ballon d’Or nominations in 2021 and 2023 will surely be followed by a third in 2025.

CM: Hakan Calhanoglu – Swapping Rossoneri for Nerazzurri in 2021 has absolutely proven to be the right decision for the set-piece expert. He’s played the best football of his career in the last couple of seasons and will cause PSG all kind of problems.

CM: Henrikh Mkhitaryan – The 36-year-old is a different kind of player than the prolific assister known to Borussia Dortmund fans a decade ago. But, even with age, he’s as important as ever to Inter after resurrecting his career since arriving in 2022.

LWB: Federico Dimarco – A bit less impressive than Dumfries and more readily replaced, the Italian wing-back will hope to simply wear down whoever he is faced with. Making Achraf Hakimi think about defending, rather than ploughing forward, is a huge battle ground.

ST: Lautaro Martinez – Played through the pain in the semi-final to help spur his team into the final, and only a really bad injury would rule him out. Victory could easily cement his status as a club legend, having arrived as a little known 20-year-old in 2018.

ST: Marcus Thuram – A solid foil for Martinez over the past couple of seasons with a strong, if not outstanding, goal record. The Champions League was one trophy his legendary father, Lilian, never won, so this could be a big moment for the Thuram family.

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Despite losing their final home game of the La Liga season on Sunday, nothing could dampen the celebrations as Barcelona lifted the title in front of their fans – for the second time in three seasons.

Barça were presented with the trophy after a 3-2 defeat to Villarreal at the Olympic Stadium, having already clinched the championship days earlier with a win over city rivals Espanyol.

In both matches, Lamine Yamal found the back of the net – a fitting finale to what has been a sensational breakthrough season for the teenage prodigy, who’s fast becoming the brightest talent to emerge in Catalonia since a young Lionel Messi lit up the early 2000s.

Now boasting 43 goal contributions across all competitions (18 goals and 25 assists), Yamal took a well-deserved moment to soak it all in after the Villarreal match—singing with fans, waving enormous flags, and basking in the glory of his first La Liga title.

But the most memorable—and undeniably adorable—moment came courtesy of his younger brother, Keyne.

As the celebrations began to settle, Yamal brought Keyne onto the pitch. Together, they danced at the center circle – swaying their hips and waving their arms in sync, until Keyne, like any excited three-year-old, got carried away and began jumping up and down with joy.

Thankfully, the heartwarming scene was captured on camera and quickly shared, immortalising the moment for fans everywhere to enjoy.

It wasn’t the first time the two had shared such a stage. After Spain’s Euro 2024 triumph, Yamal celebrated in similar fashion – cuddling his little brother in the middle of the pitch, both wearing matching jerseys bearing his name on the back.

Lamine Yamal: teenage football sensation – and an even better big brother.

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Lionel Messi has been partnered with adidas since 2006, when the Argentine icon signed an exclusive deal with the sportswear giant.

Nearly two decades on, the collaboration remains strong, consistently delivering new apparel and, most notably, football boots.

The latest release is a nostalgic nod to the past.

Scheduled for release this summer, the F50 Messi Elite FG Tunit marks the return of a legendary silhouette from adidas’ archives. As reported by House of Heat, the design takes a bold step back in time, reviving the essence of the fan-favourite Tunit boots from the late 2000s.

Specifically inspired by the F50 Tunit models from between 2007 and 2009, the updated version channels nostalgia through its distinct aesthetic—most notably the curved mid-foot graphic that flows into three prominent stripes at the toe, echoing the style Messi wore during his early rise at Barcelona.

But these boots aren’t just about looks—they incorporate cutting-edge technology as well.

According to Footy Headlines, the white and pink F50s boast a thin fibertouch upper for enhanced ball control, a compression fit tongue for optimal comfort, and “Lightstrike Pro” foam, typically seen in adidas’ running shoes, to maximise energy return.

Retailing at around £220, the F50 Messi Elite FG Tunit is scheduled for release in June via adidas’ official website.

Pricey, sure—but if you’re a Messi fan looking for a boot that captures the spirit of his early days, this one hits the mark.

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