Paris Saint-Germain booked their place in the Bigger Cup final courtesy of a draw against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena. The German champions didn't do a great deal wrong and were gracious in defeat despite their obvious disappointment.
Kompany's Praise and Bayern's Grievances
"The level of both teams was very, very high," sighed Vincent Kompany as he ruminated on his team's exit. "PSG have so much quality, they've probably been the best team in Europe in the last two years." A team that is currently so good it was forced to replace deadweight no-marks such as Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar to finally shed their tag as Bigger Cup nearlymen and bottlers, the willingness of their replacements to do the dirty work of defending played no small part in helping PSG get over the line.
For all their graciousness in defeat, Bayern's departure from the tournament wasn't entirely unclouded by rancour. It was understandable considering that ultimately, they were diddled by a PSG penalty in the first leg that should never have been awarded. On Wednesday Bayern felt further aggrieved by two more handball decisions that didn't go their way, one of which turned out to be entirely correct and an initial one that still doesn't look entirely incorrect after multiple viewings. "It's astonishing, to say the least, that a referee with only 15 Bigger Cup appearances is allowed to take charge of such a match," parped Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen of Portuguese referee Joao Pinheiro's performance. "And that perhaps also explains some of the decisions."
Ticket Woes for Arsenal and PSG Fans
While Mikel Arteta, his coaching staff and Ben White will spend the next couple of weeks lying awake wondering how best to solve a problem like Khvicha Kvaratskhelia without creating 99 others elsewhere, no end of Arsenal and PSG fans will endure similarly sleepless nights stressing over how they will get tickets for the final in Budapest. With just 16,824 general admission tickets going to each club, almost exactly half of the 67,215 capacity of the Puskas Arena will be reserved for "friends" of the dysfunctional "Uefa family". While 10,000 fans from each club will get tickets for a reasonably priced 70 euros, the next cheapest are twice that amount while the most expensive Category A admission slips are just shy of a grand. With airlines and Budapest boarding houses also shamelessly muscling in on the gouging act, many Arsenal fans will consider the small fortune begged, borrowed or stolen a small price to pay for the privilege of watching Arteta's Fun Boat drop anchor in the Danube.
Other Football News
Manchester City Women won the Women's Super League title after Arsenal failed to beat Brighton but will lose star striker Khadiaja Shaw, who is on track to win the WSL Golden Boot for the third straight season, this summer. A big win for Liverpool supporters: The club has reduced plans to increase season ticket prices for the next three seasons. FIFA confirmed a global ban for Gianluca Prestianni that will rule the Benfica winger out of two World Cup games in the US if he is selected by Argentina.
The latest Premier League accounts show just how much chief suit Richard Masters has been trousering in the gig: 2.6 million pounds, including 1.1 million pounds from a longstanding incentive scheme in 2024-25. Sad times for fans of a certain age: Panini World Cup sticker albums will become a thing of the past after the centenary finals in 2030.
