After Conquering Europe, PSG Now Have Sights Set On Club World Cup Glory
Freshly crowned kings of Europe, Paris Saint-Germain arrived this week in the United States for the Club World Cup and are treating FIFA’s lucrative new competition not as a nuisance at the end of an exhausting season but as a serious objective.
“I think it is an incredible competition,” PSG coach Luis Enrique said of the Club World Cup in the immediate aftermath of his team’s UEFA Champions League triumph in Munich two weeks ago.
“Our aim is to be competitive and try to win a fifth trophy of the season.”
The Qatar-backed French giants could be forgiven for wanting some time to bask in the glory of their 5-0 victory over Inter Milan in Munich, which allowed them to finally win the Champions League for the first time in their history.
There had been numerous agonising failures in Europe’s elite club competition, as well as billions of euros spent on transfer fees on stars like Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, before captain Marquinhos raised the trophy aloft.
“We have made history for the club, for the city and for the whole country,” defender Lucas Hernandez told sports daily L’Equipe after the PSG squad paraded their trophy down the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, attended a reception with President Emmanuel Macron and celebrated with almost 50,000 fans at their Parc des Princes stadium.
PSG have played 58 matches since last August and also swept all the available domestic trophies in France this season, as has become the norm in recent years.
