All of it comes right down to this.
On Saturday, Could 31, Paris Saint-Germain will face off towards Inter Milan within the 2025 UEFA Champions League Remaining. They’ll achieve this within the stadium of Bayern Munich, who defeated them of their first journey to the ultimate a mere 5 years in the past. Again then, PSG boasted a squad composed of sundry international stars like Leandro Paredes, Ángel Di María, Neymar Jr., and Ander Herrera, with solely two Frenchmen—Kylian Mbappé and Presnel Kimpembe—beginning within the remaining in Lisbon.
Commercial
Bayern prevailed 1-0 because of a aim from Kingsley Coman, who spent a decade in PSG’s academy earlier than departing on a free in 2014. It appeared to be a message from the footballing gods, and PSG listened by step by step renouncing their strategy of signing big-name, veteran gamers and turning their focus in direction of shopping for younger stars who’re nicely away from hitting their apex. It has labored like a attraction, with Les Parisiens profitable a home treble in every of their first two seasons below Luis Enrique, who’s looking for his second Champions League trophy as a coach. Nonetheless, earlier than Enrique takes to the pitch on the Allianz Enviornment, he’s going to must type out one head-scratching dilemma.
Paris Saint-Germain’s beginning line-up nearly picks itself: Gianluigi Donnarumma will play between the sticks, Achraf Hakimi, Marquinhos, Willian Pacho, and Nuno Mendes will slot into the backline, João Neves, Fabián Ruiz, and Vitinha will oversee midfield duties, while Ousmane Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia are anticipated to start out up prime. The one query mark? Whether or not to go together with Bradley Barcola or Désire Doué on the suitable aspect of PSG’s attacking trident.
The Case for Doué
Michael Steele/Getty Pictures
Final season, we noticed one Rennes academy graduate—Eduardo Camavinga—declare his second UEFA Champions League title with Actual Madrid. This season, we’ve seen one other Rennes youth product—Mathys Tel—get his fingers on the UEFA Europa League with Tottenham Hotspur, while we might see one other two crown themselves as champions of Europe in Dembélé and Doué.
Commercial
Born in Angers, Doué joined Rennes’ academy in 2011, quickly ascending the youth ranks and finally making his skilled debut on August 7, 2022. 4 weeks later, Doué grew to become the primary participant born in 2005 to attain in Europe’s prime 5 leagues, and one month after that, he grew to become the youngest French scorer in European membership competitors at 17 years, 4 months, and 4 days previous. An attacking midfielder by nature, Doué’s in-game intelligence and engine have enabled Enrique to make the most of him on both flank and even as a deeper midfielder, able to making buccaneering runs from one field to the opposite and carving out a golden alternative with a well-weighted by ball. Equally to , Doué is blessed with an elite mixture of agility, tempo, and ball management, enabling him to cowl ample swaths of the pitch with blistering pace and maneuver his means out of tight conditions. His shifty footwork, nifty dribbling abilities, and audacious shot-making have seen even the legendary sportscaster Derek Rae laud him as top-of-the-line younger skills in world soccer:
“I believe the potential is unquestionably there—he’s been great within the Champions League. I believe he’s on the proper membership on the proper time, as a result of PSG are a workforce that’s going locations, and a workforce which may lastly recover from that hurdle and win the Champions League.”