The suffering only makes it sweeter and how Paris Saint-Germain had suffered in the Champions League after the Qatar Sports Investments takeover of 2011. Before this season, it had been 12 consecutive qualifications for the knockout rounds and 12 assorted sets of heartbreak, some scarcely believable. A first success in the competition consistently eluded them.
This was the night when the French champions broke through, when they delivered on the obsession of their owners, of everybody connected to the club; 13th time lucky. All of the emotion came pouring out as Luis Enrique’s swashbuckling team tore into Inter, the result not in doubt from the moment that Désiré Doué made it 2-0 before the midway point of the first half. The 19-year-old was nervelessly brilliant.
