The Japan Times - Thrilling PSG home in on elusive Champions League trophy

If PSG in past years under their Qatari owners have consistently stumbled on big occasions, the Spaniard's thrilling side has taken Europe by storm this season.

The 2-1 win over Arsenal at a rocking Parc des Princes on Wednesday, secured thanks to goals by Fabian Ruiz and Achraf Hakimi, clinched a 3-1 aggregate semi-final triumph and set up a meeting with Inter Milan in the final in Munich on May 31.

PSG, the perennial French champions, have defeated four clubs from the mighty Premier League on this run, their victory against the Gunners following wins over Manchester City, Liverpool and Aston Villa since January.

They have done it with a youthful side in which six starters against Arsenal were 24 or under, and the oldest player is captain Marquinhos, at 30 -- compare that to Inter who had two 36-year-olds and one 37-year-old playing against Barcelona a day earlier.

Wednesday's win sparked wild celebrations around the French capital, with fans partying on the Champs-Elysees in scenes unimaginable late last year, although the party descended into sporadic violence as the night wore on.

PSG lost three of their first five Champions League games this season and appeared in real danger of early elimination.

That was off the back of the departure of Kylian Mbappe, their all-time top scorer, following last season's semi-final exit to Borussia Dortmund.

- A different mentality -

Mbappe must have thought he had a better chance of winning the Champions League with Real Madrid and at that point PSG seemed further away than ever from getting their hands on the prize.

But Luis Enrique, appointed in 2023 just as Lionel Messi and Neymar left the club, has completely transformed the side, and PSG have hit new heights in the second half.

"The coach has gone step by step. He arrived and he saw a lot of things needed to be improved," defender Marquinhos told Canal Plus.

"The DNA needed changing, a mentality needed to be put in place, and it wasn't going to be done overnight."

Where once they had three superstar forwards who did not defend, now PSG play a voracious pressing game, defending from the front to suffocate opponents.

"The coach says it is very difficult to be an attacking player in his team because you need to put in a lot of effort," Marquinhos added.

"When you play in a collective manner like that you get so much confidence, so it comes down to hard work as well as the quality of the players."

PSG have gone from being almost a laughing stock, to now being the envy of the continent.

"It makes us think about all we have experienced, all the scars. Some guys have just arrived, maybe they don't know how difficult it is to get this far," said Marquinhos, at PSG since 2013.

This transformation has not been done on the cheap, with PSG still spending upwards of 600 million euros ($677m) in the last two years.

But the money has been spent impressively, including on the January signing of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia from Napoli, making PSG serious contenders.

"Everyone wants to win the Champions League, all 36 teams, but only a very small number can do so," said Luis Enrique, who won the competition with Barcelona a decade ago.

"Our objective is to make history and we still have one more step to go."

- History repeating itself? -

This season's final will be the first to feature no club from Spain, England or Germany since 2004, when Porto defeated Monaco in Gelsenkirchen -- a club representing France losing a Champions League final in Germany, which is exactly what PSG are hoping to avoid.

This is PSG's second final, after their loss to Bayern Munich behind closed doors during the Covid pandemic in Lisbon in 2020.

Now they go to Munich, where Marseille won France's only Champions League so far, against Inter's rivals AC Milan in 1993.

Could that be a sign?

"Let's not forget it is their second final in three years which shows they are an established team," Luis Enrique said of Inter, three-times European Cup winners.

"They obviously have more experience, not only with the players they have but also as a club.

"But we have dreamt since we came here of having the opportunity to play these finals and win trophies."

M.Yamazaki--JT