Why this may only be the start for PSG’s new breed

In the afterglow of victory, Luis Enrique exchanged his trademark black top for a T-shirt bearing the message “Champions of Europe”.

- RICHARD JOLLY

So did many another. The temptation is to wonder if Paris Saint-Germain got them printed in 2011, when Qatar Sports Investments bought the club, and had them stored in a cupboard in the Parc des Princes ever since.

An ambition was finally realised in Munich; impressively so. After the annual collapses, the near misses, the late goals from Sergi Roberto and Marcus Rashford came the cathartic 5-0 demolition of Internazionale, one of the genuine aristocrats of European football humiliated by the nouveaux riches with designs on becoming part of the establishment.

It transpired that Arne Slot was ahead of the curve in calling PSG the best team in Europe. Over the subsequent months, many others reached that conclusion, too. The club who used to choke at the business end of the Champions League peaked when it mattered most; in itself, that is proof of the transformative impact of Luis Enrique. His cultural revolution has entailed ending the search for proven winners and building a young side who instead won.

But it can be difficult to shed a club’s identity. There was something quintessentially PSG about last season’s 4-1 battering at Newcastle, and their semi-final defeat to Borussia Dortmund, when they hit the woodwork so often it needed a concussion test, but did not find the net. This year felt more of the same. Some 50 minutes into their seventh group game, PSG were – somehow – 2-0 down to Manchester City, outside the top 24, facing the ignominy of their worst European campaign under Qatari ownership.