French Joys and Italian Sorrows
Paris Saint-Germain made up for their 2020 Champions League loss to Bayern Munich on Saturday, becoming only the second French team to win the title after Marseille, and at the expense of another Italian opponent.
Paris succeeded in their second appearance in the final, thrashing Inter Milan 5-0 at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, the largest five-goal victory in the history of the competition. Marseille, the first French team to win the tournament in 1993, defeated their arch-rivals AC Milan in Munich, which had previously won the title on its home grounds.
The first time Munich hosted the final was on May 30, 1979, between two teams who had never won the title: Nottingham Forest of England and Malmö of Sweden. Malmö won the match by a single goal. In the second final, on May 26, 1993, Marseille won the title by defeating AC Milan of Italy 1-0. Munich hosted the third final on May 28, 1997, at the Allianz Arena, between Borussia Dortmund of Germany, who won the title against Juventus of Italy, 3-1.
The same stadium hosted the fourth final on May 19, 2012, between Bayern Munich and Chelsea of England, who won their first title on penalties.
Naturally, the Bavarians were overwhelming favorites against a team appearing in their second continental final. Manchester United was the last team to win in Munich, defeating Inter Milan of Italy 1-0 in 2023.
Before Saturday's match, Paris Saint-Germain had the fourth-most Champions League matches played (167) without winning, behind Arsenal (211), Dynamo Kyiv (185), and Atlético Madrid (176).