Tonight, in Udine, Paris Saint-Germain does not only compete Tottenham. He faces his own demons, the ghost of a January 1997 evening when the club experienced one of the worst humiliations in its history. For its first participation in the European Super Cup, PSG, then victorious of the Cup Cup, was stretched by the Juventus of Zidane and Deschamps. A rout in Mondovision, a trauma that marked a whole generation of supporters.
A tennis score at the Parc des Princes
The affront remained in the annals. Contested at the time in round-trip format, this final turned into a nightmare. In the first leg, in a Glacial Princes Park, the Parisians collapse and collect a tennis score: 6-1. A total stampede, facing a team from Juventus which seemed to come from another planet. The return match, played in Palermo, will only be a formality for the Italians, which prevail 3-1. Cumulative score: 9-2. It is, still today, the heaviest defeat in the history of competition.
This humiliation has left traces. The whistles of the park, the parodies of the news of the news, the image of a French club crushed by Italian power … All this is part of the black legend of PSG. It is the one and only time that a French club has played this final, and the memory is bitter. Twenty-eight years later, Paris finally has the opportunity to rewrite history.
The 1997 ghost: PSG faced with its demons before facing Tottenham
PSG: a new era, the same quest
Today, the context has radically changed. PSG is no longer the “small” club that discovered Europe. He is the defending champion of the Champions League, a war machine built to win everything. Luis Enrique, who has already won this trophy with Barcelona, knows the importance of this match. It is not only a question of adding a line to the charts, but of washing this historic affront. To prove that the club has changed its dimension.
Faced with Tottenham, novice at this level, PSG is favorite. But we know football: the ghosts of the past sometimes have hard skin. This match is therefore not a simple final. It is a quest for redemption. The opportunity to show all of Europe that the PSG of 2025 has nothing to do with that of 1997. The opportunity, finally, to close one of the darkest pages of its history.
