In Club World Cup, PSG is showing off new trait: Resilience

Paris St.-Germain had to dig even deeper to hold off Bayern Munich after Désiré Doué’s 78th-minute goal was followed by a pair of red cards. (YouTube via FIFA)

By Felipe Cardenas / The Athletic

Before the 2025 Champions League final, Paris St.-Germain was a side known for wilting under the pressure of high expectations.

In previous years, even with Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé in the starting lineup, PSG could not get past the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich or Manchester City in Europe’s top club competition.

Last Saturday in Atlanta, in one of the most anticipated games of this novel Club World Cup, Bayern Munich, the intimidating German champions, pummeled PSG for nearly 80 minutes. PSG striker Désiré Doué ended the match battered and bloodied.

For long stretches, Bayern’s physical and relentless aggression tamed the talented French side. PSG had to dig even deeper after Doué’s 78th-minute goal was followed by red cards for Willian Pacho and Lucas Hernández.

But resilience kept PSG alive.

“We’ve spoken a lot about resilience, and we are a resilient team,” PSG coach Luis Enrique said after the 2-0 win. “We’re prepared to compete in any situation. The result doesn’t matter. We suffered a lot during this past season. But we suffered together.

“We weren’t as efficient as we could’ve been, both during league play and in the Champions League. But we showed our team spirit. We fight together.”

The day before, Luis Enrique reminded the French press in Atlanta that they had often criticized his young team — and particularly PSG’s front line — during the Ligue 1 season. Before its 5-0 thrashing of Inter Milan in the Champions League final, PSG underwhelmed in the group stage and, initially, underachieved in Europe.

Defeats by Atlético Madrid, Arsenal and Bayern led to a 15th-place finish in the table before the Champions League knockout round. Luis Enrique’s side was not as well drilled as they appear today. For a while, it looked as if PSG and its Spanish coach were on the same path as his predecessors Mauricio Pochettino and Thomas Tuchel — big names who fell short.

So after recovering to lift the Champions League trophy, PSG’s next challenge was to sustain its success.

The club embodied the type of European power that could have looked at the Club World Cup as a nuisance after a tiring season. Instead, as one of the youngest squads at the competition, PSG is rewriting its own history, and after blitzing Real Madrid 4-0 in the semifinals on Wednesday in a match that served as a reunion with former star Mbappé, the French side will face Chelsea in Sunday’s final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey (3 p.m. ET, DAZN).

Leading Bayern by 1-0 but down two men late on Saturday, PSG still pushed for a second goal. A team replete with young players like the 20-year-old Doué, the 22-year-old Bradley Barcola and the 20-year-old João Neves weathered Bayern’s frenzied search for an equalizer in a stadium on the verge of bedlam after each attacking sequence.

After a fantastic individual move by Achraf Hakimi, the second-half substitute Ousmane Dembélé smashed home the decisive second goal from close range six minutes into added time at the end.

It was the culmination of a professional performance that was far from flawless. Bayern was sharper, but PSG’s players had revenge on their minds. In soccer, those emotional motivators are often the difference when tactics and principles of play are so evenly matched.

“Revenge? Maybe a little,” Barcola said before the quarterfinal. “It’s our biggest source of motivation right now.”

Barcola epitomizes the confidence that oozes from PSG’s dressing room. It is not arrogance, although it can be mistaken as such. PSG is a brash outfit of highly skilled international players who do not want to be mentioned in the same breath as the club’s disappointing sides of the past.

A 1-0 loss at Bayern’s Allianz Arena during the Champions League group stage in November was a turning point in PSG’s season, Barcola said. At that point, PSG was on the ropes yet again in Europe.

“It’s really that feeling of revenge because we lost at their place,” Barcola said. “It was very tough for us, even afterward, but that’s why we really have the desire to win. I think it’s that loss that hurt us. It made us realize that, at that moment, we didn’t have many chances left to continue in the Champions League. And it motivated us even more to push even harder.”

PSG’s win over Inter finally put an end to the notion that the perennial French champions were overqualified domestically but ill-prepared mentally for Europe’s top club competition. Saturday’s win over Bayern reinforced the point.

“We can really learn from this match because it took us out of our comfort zone,” PSG captain Marquinhos said. “We had a few chances that we missed and some dangerous balls that gave them some chances. These little things will help us grow moving forward. And this shows the mentality of our group, because that’s something we talk about a lot.

“Winning is already very difficult — but continuing to win is even harder. That’s the mentality we have.”

When Marquinhos was asked where the newfound attitude comes from, the Brazilian international wasted no time in crediting his manager.

“Our coach — he brought his philosophy, his mindset, and he prepared the team very well from the first day he arrived,” Marquinhos said. “He started from scratch with how he wanted us to play. He worked on improving the team mentally so we’d be ready for anything that could happen during a match.”

It took time for PSG to adopt Luis Enrique’s demands. The talent was there; this team is gifted at nearly every position. It rebuilt and reset after Mbappé left for Real Madrid. And the commitment to the collective over the individual star was a drastic shift from the PSG of old.

Now, can a battle-tested PSG go from conquering Europe to conquering the world?