Following a sad first season in French football, Messi struck 22 minutes into the traditional curtain-raiser, being played in Israel for the second year consecutively.
Neymar doubled the lead just ahead of the break with a magnificent free-kick.
Sergio Ramos appended a 3rd and Neymar bagged his second late on from the penalty spot as PSG, the reigning Ligue 1 champions, progressed to victory over last season’s French Cup winners.
It is the 9th time in 10 seasons PSG have lifted the Champions Trophy. They lost 1-0 to Lille at the same location a year ago.
The club triumphed a battle with Real Madrid in May to persuade Kylian Mbappe to stay, however Galtier was without the France star for his first official match because of suspension.
Pablo Sarabia took Mbappe’s place in the attack alongside Messi and Neymar.
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Galtier is PSG’s 7th coach since the Qataris bought the club 11 years ago and will be anticipated to finally lift the Champions League trophy.
“Yes, I am emotional, yes I am proud,” stated Galtier at a press conference.
“I am fully aware of the responsibility placed on me, that PSG had a huge season.”
“I have prepared myself for this.”
“If I have accepted these responsibilities, it is because I feel I am capable.”
The club had earlier provided a short statement vouching what had been widely-touted for weeks — the exit of Pochettino with a year left on his contract.
“Paris Saint-Germain confirm that Mauricio Pochettino has ended his role at the club,” stated a club statement as the former Tottenham Hotspur coach left the PSG following 18 months in charge.
Pochettino and his backroom staff quit having triumphed the Ligue 1 title last season however the campaign was better remembered for a saddening departure from the Champions League in the last 16 at the hands of Real Madrid.
“The club would like to thank Mauricio Pochettino and his staff for their work and wish them the best for the future,” further said PSG’s statement.
Galtier, who quit Nice last month, has made a reputation as the leading coach in the French club match over the last decade.
He relished 8 successful years at Saint-Etienne, where he triumphed the League Cup in 2013, ahead of a 4-year stint at Lille was crowned with the Ligue 1 title in 2021, when they trilled PSG.
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While the PSG number 10’s agreement was automatically lengthened to 2027, it was reported last week that Luis Campos is looking to vend Neymar – with QSI allegedly being in complete agreement that the striker should quit the club, he joined 5 years ago for a world record transfer fee.
The Brazilian has showcased multiple times his need to ‘feel loved’ by the club in order for to get the best efforts from him – but at PSG the hierarchy are no longer blocking the fact that they would like to see the player depart.
Neymar was aware of the fact he has not performed at his best this season in comparison with other superstars – scoring 13 goals, with 8 assists in 28 games.
Nevertheless, it was not until after PSG got eliminated of the Champions League versus Real Madrid that he started doubting his future, reportedly not being satisfied by boos targeted at him by the home crowd in the matches.
In an interview with PSG president, Nasser Al-Khlelaïfi spoke about a possible departure for Neymar, “A possible departure of Neymar this summer? What I can tell you is that we expect all the players to do much more than last season, much more! They all have to be at 100 per cent”.
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Nevertheless, the Brazilian has no wish to quit, having reminded everyone connected with the club who have approached him that he has no plans to relocate from the French capital.
As per reports, Neymar earns around €50 million gross per season, a salary that few, if any, clubs in Europe would be in a position to offer him.
The only thing that is clear to PSG at the moment is that Kylian Mbappe has signed his agreement renewal until 2025. And, Luis Campos has become the club’s new sporting advisor.
After that, it’s all untold given that UEFA have asked for a clarification of the club’s balance sheet, which shows a loss of €224 million.
The first issue of all this is the need for the Qatari club to start to lighten their squad, which as per LaLiga president Javier Tebas has more than €600 million in salary expenditure, in the absence of the notable percentage surge in Mbappe’s new deal.
PSG would emphasize the sale of Neymar over that of Leo Messi, with the latter having just 1 year left on his agreement whilst the Brazilian would bring in a big fee.
There is lot of turmoil at PSG these days, and very few players are certain of their futures because of the saddening European campaign that they went through last term.
]]>Whilst Tchouameni’s salary with Real Madrid has not been declared, that same report proposes that he will earn approximately €6 million per year, which means that he would have earned twice as much had he united with PSG.
It is clear that Tchouameni wanted to play for Real Madrid.
The player himself vouched it during his press conference, stating that watching the team’s comebacks in the Champions League’s knock-out stages influenced him and made him opt Real Madrid.
In fact, Tchouameni would have had a much simple job being a starter in PSG.
He might come off the bench for Real Madrid, which could eventually hamper his chances of playing for France in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, yet he still opted Real Madrid.
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As per Europe 1 an agreement in proposition is in place between the club and Zidane, 49, for the former Real Madrid boss before the new season.
RMC Sport asserts sources at the Parc des Princes have rejected to deny the reports.
Later, a PSG source notified that such an agreement would have to be considered with caution.
Pochettino has a year left on his agreement and led the Parisians to the Ligue 1 title last term however they were eliminated of the Champions League knock-out stages.
The outfit’s hierarchy have openly said their wish to triumph the tourney with Zidane having guided the Spanish giants to the title 3 seasons consecutively.
Before, PSG declared the arrival of Luis Campos as their football advisor to replace Leonardo.
The 57-year-old Portugese, assisted Monaco to the French crown in 2017 as well as Monaco 4 years later and worked apace with Kylian Mbappe on the Mediterranean coast.
“I am delighted to be joining Paris Saint-Germain, which I consider is the most ambitious and exciting club in world football,” Campos stated in a PSG statement.
“I believe strongly in and share the vision of the club and I cannot wait to get started to further unleash the great potential of this exceptional club,” he further said.
The new French top-flight season starts on 6th of August with the French Trophee des Champions 5 days before as PSG face Nantes in Israel.
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Barca are on the lookout for a replacement for agreement rebel Ousmane Dembele and have recognized the Argentine as a possible target.
Di Maria, 34, is all set to be available on a free transfer as his deal with PSG is set to run out on 30th of June.
A move to Juventus had been mentioned, but as per a report, the virtuoso Argentine international wants to unite with Barcelona in the summer.
According to the report, Di Maria is looking for a contract of just one-year duration so that he can be in good shape for the forthcoming FIFA World Cup at the end of 2022.
Barcelona are reputedly working on a deal for the former Real Madrid winger, with manager Xavi Hernandez reckoned to have spoken to Di Maria to brief him the club’s proposal.
Nevertheless, any move to Barcelona for Di Maria will come with a major depletion in his wages.
The winger used to earn an enormous €13 million per year at PSG, however at Camp Nou, which will sink significantly, considering the poor financial condition Barcelona find themselves in.
President Joan Laporta is planning to launch a maximum cap of €10 million per year on player salaries.
And taking into consideration Di Maria’s age, the club would be willing to offer him an agreement worth around just €2 million-a-year, as per the report.
Di Maria is understood to have halted negotiations with Juventus when the option of Barcelona presented itself.
Nevertheless, whether he will be open to plunging his wages by such a drastic amount to secure a move to Camp Nou remains to be seen.
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