There is little rest for the kings of Europe, as Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain must pivot quickly to set their sights on the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the United States, which begins on June 14.
Saturday provided the greatest night in the French club’s history, as a 5-0 demolition of Italian giants Inter Milan secured PSG’s first Champions League title ever.
After a self-imposed short holiday, which has become a priority for manager Luis Enrique, a new challenge in the US awaits.
“You want to be competitive? Give your players a holiday,” Enrique said. “After Christmas, we probably gave our players the most rest out of all the teams in Europe. Nine or 10 days, doing lace-making,
technical engineering, to give them enough rest so that when they return to work, they feel ready and motivated. This isn’t a normal job, it’s one you enjoy, but most clubs and coaches tend to have
the mindset that: We play many games, so we have to train a lot.
We actually do the opposite, and ahead of the Club World Cup, the key will be to give the players as much rest as possible, both mentally and physically, allowing them to switch off, as we’ll
be in better shape in this way.”
PSG has roughly two weeks to do that. They start Group B play on June 15 at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles against Spanish juggernauts Atletico Madrid. Four days later, they face Brazilian side Botafogo before wrapping up group play in Seattle on June 23 against Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders.
Enrique’s men are the heavy favorites to cruise through the group stage of the 32-team tournament, which is in its first iteration this summer in the US. And if things go as expected, they will be in the New York/New Jersey area sooner rather than later with MetLife Stadium hosting quarterfinal and semifinal matches along with the Final.
“The goal is the same as in every competition: to try to be ready to win that competition,” Enrique, the former Barcelona manager, said. “I think we are one of the leading clubs in the world that wants to create history, and from [winning the Champions League] and from this first edition of the Club World Cup, the objective is clearly to compete until the end, to go as far as possible, and to have chances of winning it.”
Of course, the latter stages of the tournament will present much stiffer tests. Some of the most famous and successful clubs in the history of the game are participating in this tournament, including fellow European powerhouses Real Madrid (Spain), Bayern Munich (Germany), Manchester City (England), Chelsea (England), and Juventus (Italy).
It is from that continent that Enrique believes the winner of the Club World Cup will emerge.
“The favorites, in principle, I think will be mainly the Europeans,” he said. “I have no doubt that if the South American players were in Brazil, in Argentina, in Uruguay, the American teams, South American teams, Central American teams, and even African teams, would have a better chance, but it’s obvious that we European teams have an advantage in that respect because we have the best from Europe, but also the best from Africa, America and Asia.
“And I feel that it would be logical for the European teams to be closer to winning the Club World Cup, but football is a sport that does not understand fairness and where anything can happen in competitions as short as the Club World Cup, because let’s not forget that when you get to the Round of 16, everything is decided in one-off match, the quarterfinals in a one-off match, the semifinals and the final. So, football is a sport that allows surprises to happen, football is a sport that allows surprises, but I think European teams, in that sense—I think we have more options. All the non-Europeans will be upset about it, but that’s my opinion.”
