From spoiled superstars to hunger and hard work: How PSG changed its image

Saturday’s Champions League final is the culmination of a season which has seen PSG find new fans with a likeable squad and an attractive brand of football.

As Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting tapped the ball into the Paris Saint-Germain net on March 8, 2023, the irony was not lost on the French fans. Choupo-Moting, a relatively unremarkable but selfless player, had been released by PSG for free in 2020. And here he was, scoring the second of three goals for Bayern Munich that would knock Les Parisiens out of the Champions League at the Round of 16 stage. His teammate Kingsley Coman, who had also left PSG for free, had scored the first. The French superclub’s frontline of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé was, on paper, miles ahead of the one belonging to its German opponent. And yet, in three hours and 13 minutes across two matches, the star trio had failed to score a single goal. The team from the City of Light had once again burned out in the competition it had been trying desperately to win for years. “The season for us was kind of like a nightmare,” PSG fan Raphaël Messina tells CNN Sports. “We wanted to fall in love again with our club, and for players to respect the badge and the institution.” The French club, and its Qatari ownership, had become known as much for its big spending and superstar talent as it had for anything happening on the pitch. “I think money was one of the first conditions for them (the players) to come and sign for PSG, for sure,” explains Messina.