Leipzig give PSG their first Champions final

Nine years and hundreds of millions of euros later, the megalomaniac patronage of the Qatari state has placed Paris Saint-Germain in its first European Cup final. Three goals born of Leipzig's defensive naivety, as childish as it was rude, put an end to the dream of the impressive German team, collectively and individually greatly reduced with respect to their splendid performance against Atlético. There was hardly any trace of that dizzying team that gave the bell against the rojiblancos. The Leipzig fell, a victim of his early childhood and his lack of flight hours on a date in which this time the pressure seemed to overcome him.

The PSG project, so conformed to the blows of the checkbook that they burst the market, so at the limit with the rules of financial fair play until bordering on expulsion from European competitions, is one game away from culminating the dream of its opulent owners. His assault on soccer's leadership has left a string of renowned coaches shredded by their failures in the competition. It was Thomas Tuchel, winner of the promising duel that was announced with his disciple Nagelsmann, who is one game away from granting Paris and Qatar their first great crown. Like the rest of his predecessors, Tuchel had no future other than that dictated by the great European competition in Lisbon.

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RB Leipzig Gulacsi, Nordi Mukiele, Dayotchanculle Upamecano, Lukas Klostermann (Willi Orban, min. 81), Tasende, Laimer (Marcel Halstenberg, min. 61), Kevin Kampl (Tyler Adams, min. 63), M. Sabitzer, Dani Olmo ( Patrik Schick, min. 45), Nkunku (Forsberg, min. 45) and Yussuf Poulsen PSG Sergio Rico, Kimpembe, Thilo Kehrer, Thiago Silva, Bernat, Paredes (Draxler, min. 82), Marquinhos, Ander Herrera (Verratti, min. 82 ), Di María (Sarabia, min. 86), Neymar and Kylian Mbappe (Choupo-Moting, min. 85)

They were not the glittering stars of PSG, Neymar and Mbappé, the executors of Leipzig. It was the outcasts, Marquinhos, Di María and Bernat who punished every defensive blunder that made the innovative Nagelsmann desperate. The shooting that was announced and took place in the first minutes with one occasion from Neymar and another from Poulsen was stopped before the first quarter of an hour by a header from Marquinhos. The center-back converted to a midfielder finished off a free mark from a side-gloved foul by Di María from a couple of meters behind the left corner of the area. Only Marquinhos found out about the poisoned rope of the Argentine winger.

If against Atlético a team was seen standing firmly in the ball exit from behind, this time Leopzig appeared with a shaky and erratic touch. Upamecano, Klostermann, Kampl, Laimer, and Sabitzer, the architects of the game from behind, which Simeone had so hard to decipher, were not so fine on their feet. However, it was the goal Gulaçsi the first to announce his laziness with a hit in his area that slipped into his goal after hitting Neymar. The referee pointed to Neymar's hands. The Brazilian winger invented a low and direct free kick, when Gulaçsi waited for a center to the area, which was stamped at the base of the post. It was again the Polish goalkeeper who facilitated the second goal for PSG within the limits of the first half. Pressured, he risked a pass to Kampl that Ander Herrera, imperial all night, intercepted to set up a game between the lines and press. The midfielder gave the ball to Neymar and this to Di María to sentence the desperate Gulaçsi.

Without having to resort to Neymar's dribbling or Mbappé's devastating stride, PSG went to the dressing room with the final in their pocket. It was enough to punish the gifts received in front of a rival who drowned in a beautiful and attractive idea, but poorly executed this time.

Nagelsmann's attempt to turn the game around by leaving Dani Olmo and Nkunku in the shower, for Forsberg and Schik, gave his team some vigor at the start of the second act. The deployment seemed more threatening thanks to greater precision in passing. Until another blunder emerged from the defensive line. This time it was Mukiele, chosen by Nagelsmann instead of Halstenberg, to present a more robust and physical defense against Neymar and Mbappé, who did the charity work. He stumbled while trying to ward off the danger on his right side. The ball fell to Di María and the center of this was pushed by Bernat, who was returning at a tired pace after leaving the field when he realized that the Argentine had recovered the ball. Alone, with no one to hinder him, he turned his neck to finish burying Leipzig.

Nagelsmann's team could not do more than try to fall with honor. He attacked and skirted Sergio Rico's area, practically unprecedented throughout the night. The two-goal game that was announced was not such. The Andalusian goal, who started due to the injury of Keylor Navas, did not have the opportunity to show off. If the Costa Rican does not recover, the final awaits him. The first that can crown a team that only when it has understood that football is more than an amalgam of stars has it placed itself at the feet of glory.