World Soccer - UK (2020-10)

celebration of the game, of narratives

clashing and intertwining that you get at

a World Cup or continental tournament.

It’s unlikely to replace the traditional

two-legged format long-term, but there

was plenty here to encourage, for

instance, those promoting the expanded

Club World Cup: the club game too can

work in a tournament format.

Perhaps the semi-finals were

anti-climactic, but the drama of the

quarters – Barcelona’s chickens coming

home to roost in spectacular fashion;

another mystifying tactical decision from

WHAT THEY

SAID

HANSI FLICK

(Bayern Munich coach)

“I am proud of the team. When I saw the

headlines in November [when he took

over], all I read was that nobody is afraid

of Bayern anymore. The development

since then has been crazy. We deserved

to win, because of the second half.

“You could already see in training

atourwintercamp inJanuarythat

something big was growing. The team

is eager and we have players with

boundless desire to win. The team is

always in the foreground. When you see

how we worked until the 96th minute

tonight in defence then it is a superb

team spirit.

“Every player developed this season in

such a way so as

to win three titles.

This only happens

as a team. The only

thing that was

missing was the

fans. Maybe in the

future we can have

games with fans

again. This sport

deserves it.”

THOMAS TUCHEL

(Paris Saint-Germain coach)

“This is only the start and we haven’t

reached the top of the mountain yet

• that’s the most important thing, as
  opposed to my contract. We can talk
  about all that once we have built the
  team and once everyone is on the
  same page as to the sort of game
  you want to play.
  “Over the last two years we have really
  built a special atmosphere in the camp
  and without that mood in the camp,
  without that respect with the players
  and the atmosphere with both the staff
  and the players, without all of that day
  in, day out, naturally you can’t win four
  pieces of silverware and make it into
  the Champions League final.
  “We really need to keep that spirit to
  maintain that mentality, it is absolutely
  crucialtodothatsothatwecan
  continue to forge a strong squad. You
  need a lot of big characters, big players
  and that is why we need to once again
  build another strong powerful side that
  can really kick on and continue this run.
  “It is never easy. It takes a lot of effort
  and that will be the challenge to try to
  re-discover this spirit and try to kick on
  from this. That is really our challenge
  going forward.”

KINGSLEY COMAN

(Bayern Munich – Man of the Match)

“It’s extraordinary, it’s a great happiness.

I feel a little sadness for Paris, they’ve

had an extraordinary journey and we

must respect what Paris have done.

We tried to keep them under pressure

and they played on the counter-attack

mostly. We didn’t concede a goal and

that was the most important thing.

Paris had a great game, but so did

we. It was a great final.”

Pep Guardiola; PSG’s late escape against

Atalanta;Joao Felix’s intervention from the

bench and thenJulian Nagelsmann’s negation

of him – more than made up for it.

In Bayern, the tournament had the right

winner, in the sense that they have played

the best football, certainly since Hansi Flick

took over in November. Their winner was a

distillation of their style: a rapid exchange of

passes, rounded off byJoshua Kimmich’s deft

cross and Kingsley Coman’s back-post header.

No other side has claimed the Champions

League by winning

every game and,

while the absence

of second legs in

the quarter and

semi-finals meant

that was a slightly

easier task than

usual, it is still a remarkable achievement.

The 8-2 evisceration of Barcelona was a game

that will resonate long after the specifics are

forgotten. They are the image of the intelligent

muscularity thathas come todominateatthe

highest level of the game.

Still, as deserved as their victory was, the

grim context of the final cannot be ignored.

Jonathan Wilson

2020 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE REVIEW

Not this time...Neymar won the trophy in 2015

Winner...Coman

heads past Navas

Champions...

Bayern join

Liverpool on

six titles

The European

game’s finale was an

unedifying spectacle

all-round