Izuchukwu Okosi
The UEFA Champions League final between Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain was a dour contest as the French Ligue 1 champions scooped the European title for the first time. Inter Milan edged out Barcelona in a thrilling semifinals matchup and were most pundits’ favourites to lift the trophy.
The final was aptly described as experience (Inter) versus youth (PSG).
Join our WhatsApp ChannelPSG moved on from the era of signing an entire team of superstars to going for a bunch of promising youngsters with just a sprinkle of some quality superstars.
That seemed to work a trick as the players work with more harmony, team cammadarie and hunger.
During the league phase, they were beaten by semifinalists, Arsenal, albeit they were missing the influential Ousmane Dembele due to disciplinary reasons.
The tough love shown the France international by head coach Luis Enrique seemingly paid off as Demebele became a player reborn afterwards with great Ligue 1 and Champions League showings.
READ ALSO: Benzema, Mbappe, Modric Top UEFA Champions League Team Of The Season
The UEFA Champions League Team of the Season was released over the weekend by the Technical Study Group with most of the players in the team admittedly meeting their place on the XI released by Europe’s football governing body.
However there were a few players whose selections have raised some questions.
Gianluigi Donarumma, the imposing PSG goalkeeper had a great campaign.
The Italian was particularly impressive against Arsenal in the semifinals as he denied the Gunners some goal-bound chances.
But over the course of the season, Yann Sommer had a better individual performances over Donarumma.
Admittedly, Sommer had a dreadful final as he was beaten five times in the 5-0 drubbing, but his omission was questionable as his performances over the season was incredibly super.
Donarumma would be the keeper of the final with a better rating but Prime Business Africa have a poser on whether he deserves the ultimate place in the UEFA XI.
Another contention is the absence of Ivorian striker, Serhou Guirassy, who shone individually for Borussia Dortmund.
Guirassy was tied as top scorer in the competition with Barcelona’s Raphinha with 13 goals each but he was overlook by UEFA in preference of Desire Doue who had barnstorming final with a goal and two assists.
Doue was voted the Young Player of the UEFA Champions League this past season.
The forward was undoubtedly the best player in the final but it was injustice to leave out Guirassy who had a great season and was top scorer with Raphinha (who himself made the cut).
The PSG win also had brought up the debate of whether Ashraf Hakimi is already the leading candidate for the 2025 African Footballer of the Year award already?
The trio of Guirassy, Victor Osimhen and Mohamed Salah have something to say about that.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
