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Finalists To Failures: The 2025 Champions League Winners And Losers
Blogs

Finalists To Failures: The 2025 Champions League Winners And Losers

Finalists To Failures: The 2025 Champions League Winners And Losers

With Paris Saint-Germain’s dominant victory against Inter, the UEFA Champions League comes to an end for another season.

A competition which saw a format change, high-profile match ups, upsets across the board and breakout superstars, this season's campaign can only be described as one to remember.

With that being said, we take a look at who can view their season as a success, and who would likely want to forget the 2025 UEFA Champions League.

Winners

Paris Saint-Germain

Paris Saint-Germain were able to jump over a hurdle which had been plaguing them for decades.

Luis Enrique’s side lifted the UEFA Champions League for the first time in club history, following a dominant 5-0 victory against Inter.

Having lost Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid in the summer, PSG’s 15th placed finish in the group stage wasn’t entirely surprising to many. However, the knockout phase was when PSG began turning heads with a 10-0 aggregate demolition of fellow French side Brest.

The Parisians would follow up that performance by knocking out the group stage winners Liverpool in the round of 16 and Aston Villa in the quarter-final.

Despite the first-leg being hosted at the Emirates Stadium, Paris Saint-Germain were able to walk away with a 1-0 advantage thanks to Ousmane Dembele’s effort, before securing a 2-1 victory at home to reach the final for only the second time in their history.

Having lost to Bayern Munich in the Champions League final in 2020, PSG would not let history repeat itself as they soundly produced one of the most one sided final performances in the competitions history, with the biggest winning margin in Champions League final history to boot as well.

Goals from Hakimi, Kvaratskhelia, Mayulu and a brace from Doué completed a 5-0 thumping against Italian side Inter to win the tournament in convincing fashion - becoming the second French team ever to win the competition.

PSG’s victory not only wrote their name into the record books, but it platformed some of the best talent in the world right now.

With eight goals and six assists in 15 appearances, Ousmane Dembele was named Champions League Player of the Season, and is now amongst the current favourites to win the Ballon d’Or.

Desire Doué’s performances throughout the competition saw him named Champions League Young Player of the Tournament, while Donnarumma, Hakimi, Marquinhos, Mendes and Vitinhia were selected for the Team of the Season.

Raphinha

Two seasons ago Raphinha was viewed as an underwhelming arrival at Barcelona, following his £55 million move from Leeds United.

The Brazilian forward struggled to adapt to Spanish football and the pressure that comes with playing for one of the biggest clubs on the planet, registering just ten goals in 50 appearances.

The following campaign would see an improvement from the Brazilian, scoring ten goals in 37 appearances.

However, it was the 2024/25 season which saw Raphinha transform from a disappointing signing to one of the best players on the planet.

Raphinha would be a major catalyst in the revival of Barcelona, winning La Liga, Copa del Rey and the Supercopa de Espana under Hansi Flick.

His efforts in the Champions League would see Raphinha named joint top goal scorer for the competition, and surpass Lionel Messi for the most goal contributions in a Champions League season for Barcelona.

Serhou Guirassy

Serhou Guirassy is a name that has been synonymous with scoring goals across the last few seasons.

Having become a household name during the 2023/24 season for his remarkable performances with Stuttgart, scoring 30 goals in 30 appearances, the Guinea international earned a move to Borussia Dortmund.

While playing for the Yellow and Black, Guirassy has continued his goal scoring habits, netting 34 goals in 45 appearances.

Despite scoring for fun in the Bundesliga, it was Guirassy’s Champions League tally which caught the eye of many.

The Dortmund striker received the competition's Golden Boot alongside Raphinha for scoring 13 goals in 14 appearances - including a hat-trick against Barcelona in the quarter-finals. 13 goals also saw the striker become Africa and Dortmund’s all-time top scorer in a single campaign.

Losers

Inter

It’s safe to say that Inter didn’t have the best time during the Champions League final.

Having lost 1-0 to Manchester City in 2023, Inter were looking to right the wrongs of the past and deliver a fourth title in club history.

However, the Italian side would reward another opponent with their first Champions League title, losing 5-0 to Paris Saint-Germain in a tournament final mis-match.

Inter had been on course for a treble at the halfway stage of the season, but managed to end the campaign trophy-less, having lost out on the Serie A title to Napoli and the Supercoppa Italiana to fierce rivals Milan.

To add insult to injury, manager Simone Inzaghi is expected to depart in favour of a move to Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal.

A campaign that was full of optimism and moments, such as the 7-6 semi-final victory against Barcelona, ends with embarrassment and plenty of questions for the future.

Manchester City

The 2024/25 season, generally speaking, was a season to forget for Manchester City. Having won the competition in 2023, Pep Guardiola’s side had hopes of bringing the prestigious trophy back to Manchester, but would instead struggle throughout the competition.

A scarily low 22nd placed finish in the group stages rocked the Citizen's aspirations, and their standing as a tournament favourite, but Manchester City still progressed to the play-offs on goal difference.

Unlike PSG, who also finished in the play-off places but were able to regain form and compete throughout the competition, Manchester City’s journey ended after a 6-3 aggregate defeat to Real Madrid.

Having hosted the first-leg Manchester City failed to walk away with an advantage as their Spanish opponents secured a 3-2 victory thanks to goals from Mbappe, Diaz and a stoppage time winner from Jude Bellingham.

The second-leg created further embarrassment for the then-Premier League champions, as Mbappe scored a stunning hat-trick to send the Citizens home.

In domestic action, Manchester City also failed to meet expectations, recording their first trophyless season since 2017.

Real Madrid

The betting favourite heading into the competition, the addition of Kylian Mbappe alongside Vinicius and Bellingham created expectations of a repeat for the reigning champions.

Impressive wins such as a 3-1 victory against Stuttgart and the 5-2 thrashing against Borussia Dortmund stood as reasons to be excited about this Real Madrid side.

However, worrying hiccups against the likes of Lille, Milan and Liverpool meant an automatic qualification place was unachievable as Madrid finished 11th in the group stage.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side ultimately qualified for the round of 16 stage having defeated Manchester City 6-3 on aggregate, setting up a clash with rivals Atletico Madrid.

Once there, Real Madrid recorded a 2-1 first-leg victory due to goals from Rodrygo and Brahim Diaz, but would be taken to penalties for the second-leg having lost 1-0 in normal and extra time.

A 4-2 win during the penalty shootout meant that Madrid would travel to North London for the next round of the competition as Arsenal awaited Los Blancos.

In what was expected to be an even contest, the Gunners threw a spanner into the works for Real Madrid, defeating the current champions 3-0 with goals from Merino and two stunning free kicks from Rice.

A red card for Camavinga late on made things even worse for Madrid, as they headed back to the Santiago Bernabeu with their European hopes on the line.

Optimism of a famous comeback was put to bed by Mikel Arteta’s side, as the second-leg was more of the same.

Arsenal took the lead in the 65th minute through Saka before Vinicius equalised just two minutes later. Martinelli would round off the scoring in stoppage time to give Arsenal a 5-1 aggregate victory and progress to the semi-final, sealing a disappointing UCL defence and capping off a shocking trophy-less campaign.

Benji Kosartiyer
Journalist
Reece Coughlan

Writer

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