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Saving grace: keeper who refuses to go out of fashion
The Independent
|May 30, 2025
No one has done more than Gianluigi Donnarumma in guiding Paris Saint-Germain to Munich, writes Richard Jolly
For a man out of time, it might again be the right time. Gianluigi Donnarumma has felt football’s youngest anachronism, the type of player who had fallen out of fashion. Now he stands 90 minutes – or, given, his skill set, perhaps 120 and a penalty shootout – from a second achievement that would be out of keeping with the modern footballing world.
If Paris Saint-Germain win the Champions League on Saturday, their often tragicomic quest to conquer Europe would suddenly bring fulfilment. The 6ft 5in shot-stopper can seem the giant figure for the huge occasion. Rewind four years ago and his penalty saves from Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka enabled Italy to win Euro 2020, a feat rendered more extraordinary as it was surrounded by the failure to even qualify for the preceding or following World Cup, while the Azzurri still have not played a World Cup knockout game since 2006.
Donnarumma was named the player of Euro 2020. If PSG prevail against Internazionale, there is a strong case for the Italian to see off the competing claim of teammate Ousmane Dembele to take the award for the Champions League’s finest performer this season.
This story is from the May 30, 2025 edition of The Independent.
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