B/R's 2024-25 UEFA Champions League Team of the Tournament
An exciting 2024-25 UEFA Champions League campaign ended on Saturday with Paris Saint-Germain deservingly winning the tournament with a 5-0 win over Inter Milan in Munich.
You'll certainly be seeing plenty of PSG players on B/R's Champions League Team of the Season, but who else made the cut?
Our Leo Collis and Nick Akerman gave their thoughts on who deserved their spot and provided their reasons why.
Disagree with our selections? Submit your thoughts now in the comments section of the app!
Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Donnarumma
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An excellent goalkeeper makes all the difference.
Gianluigi Donnarumma has won a ton of major trophies in his career, often without getting too many plaudits in the process. He’s also made a lot of high-profile mistakes, playing with an inconsistency that means the jury has remained out 10 years after he made his breakthrough in Milan’s senior ranks.
He can’t be criticised for his performances in this year’s Champions League. The giant Italian kept PSG in the reckoning against Arsenal with a number of big saves, including multiple during pressure moments early in the second leg.
Donnarumma had very little to do in the final. You know what? He earned it.
- Nick Akerman
Right Back: Denzel Dumfries
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With apologies to Achraf Hakimi, who scored the opening goal in the final and had a direct influence on a further eight goals during the competition, Denzel Dumfries sneaks into this side.
The Netherlands international tapped into something special in the semifinal, scoring twice in the first leg and providing an assist before laying on two helpers in the second, allowing Internazionale to squeak through to the final by the finest of margins.
But his defensive impact plays a big part in why he makes this XI. While injury kept him from the quarterfinal against Bayern Munich, he suited up in 12 of the other 13 games, helping the Nerazzurri keep eight clean sheets in the process. He has been a nightmare opponent at both ends of the pitch.
In Munich, he was tasked with keeping Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, which is a nearly impossible assignment. He wasn’t nearly as involved as he’d have liked to have been, with the Ligue 1 side controlling the play for the majority of the 90 minutes.
While he’d like to scratch that particular game from his memory, he was so impressive for the rest of the competition.
- Leo Collis
Center Back: Marquinhos
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A bonafide PSG legend, now with an added Champions League title. Marquinhos’ leadership is particularly key in this transitional moment that is letting youngsters thrive at the club. That doesn’t happen without an experienced leader in the mix.
Marquinhos’ partnership with William Pacho excels because they trust each other completely. Pacho is great at stepping forward and being aggressive. Marquinhos is an excellent reader of dangerous situations. The physicality and pace of his colleagues allow him to dominate by sticking to a more specific task, such as man-marking the opposition’s biggest threat.
The Brazilian defender has worked incredibly hard to be this good for this long. Twelve years into his PSG career, he’s now elevated to immortal status.
- Nick Akerman
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Center Back: Alessandro Bastoni
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Up until the second leg of the round of 16, Internazionale had conceded one goal.
One. In nine games. Against teams like Manchester City, Arsenal, RB Leipzig, and Monaco.
While Alessandro Bastoni didn’t feature against the Gunners, he was crucial in the shutouts elsewhere, keeping attacking opponents at bay, winning aerial duels, and putting Inter on the front foot with sensible passes out from the back.
He was especially impressive in the quarterfinal first leg victory against Bayern Munich, winning a game-high five tackles, per WhoScored, to keep the Bundesliga side’s formidable attacking talent quiet.
While any of Inter’s center-back corps would have deserved a spot here—the performance in the final aside—Bastoni gets the nod.
- Leo Collis
Left Back: Nuno Mendes
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I’d go as far as saying Nuno Mendes is the best left-back in the world these days. The immense potential he showed at Sporting has come to fruition quicker than expected. Luis Enrique has unlocked his attacking freedom to elevate his match-winning qualities.
Those qualities produced four goals and an assist during PSG’s Champions League run. The confidence with which he took Aston Villa apart with a strike in each leg will have forced many to take notice. He’s not just brilliant going forward, though. Mendes’ energy allows him to constantly hound his winger without leaving PSG exposed at the back.
With Achraf Hakimi on the other side, the French side now possesses the best full-back double act in the world.
- Nick Akerman
Center Midfield: Vitinha
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Vitinha has been ticking along as a top quality midfielder for a while now.
His performance in PSG’s second-leg win against Liverpool certainly thrust him to new levels of appreciation. It’s totally deserved. His distribution allows PSG to not only dictate the pace of matches, it also disarms the other team completely, as we saw with his quality performance and assist in the final.
Part of this comes down to the tremendous balance in the club’s midfield. Vitinha is lucky to have Joao Neves and Fabian Ruiz either side of him; one who drops deep to recover the ball and another who floats into free space to give him a passing option. Their rotation is beautiful to watch and means the three rarely have a bad game.
Great teams need players like Vitinha, whose metronomic nature has maintained PSG’s rhythm even when they’ve appeared to be underdogs this season.
- Nick Akerman
Center Midfield: Declan Rice
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Declan Rice will be talking about that night at the Emirates against Real Madrid for the rest of his life.
The center-midfielder smashed home two textbook free-kicks in the first leg to help the Gunners set the table for a memorable quarterfinal victory. Arguing over which one was better is probably pointless, as each provides a new element of wonder upon every watch.
Perhaps illustrating his importance to Arsenal’s engine room, the only game the London side lost in the League Phase was when the 26-year-old was out with injury. Aside from those heroic strikes against Los Blancos, he grabbed a further two goals and two assists before the Premier League side were beaten by PSG in the semifinals.
But Rice was crucial to Arsenal’s progression to that stage, and his teammates will be gutted they couldn’t get to the final for his sake.
- Leo Collis
Center Midfield: João Neves
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João Neves is one-third of a brilliant PSG midfield that has bossed the competition.
The Portuguese boasts seemingly endless energy reserves, honey badger-like tenacity, remarkable footballing intelligence, and can control a game without even breaking a sweat. For a 20-year-old, that’s seriously impressive.
In both legs of the round-of-16 against Liverpool, he was immense, bending the games to his will and popping up all over the pitch as if he had the power of teleportation.
In the second leg at Anfield, he completed 90.5 percent of his passes, made four tackles, and completed three key passes, according to WhoScored, allowing his team to eke out a crucial 1-0 before toppling the Reds on penalties.
But the numbers don’t really do Neves justice. To understand his importance, you really have to watch him play. He’s an absolute joy to behold.
- Leo Collis
Right Wing: Lamine Yamal
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Seventeen years old and it feels like we know Lamine Yamal so well. It doesn’t matter that Barcelona fell short this year; the teen superstar laid down the foundations of what is likely to be a long and prosperous Champions League career.
Five goals and three assists are an impressive return for a player who is still unable to celebrate with a nice cold beer. This yea,r we’ve seen teams try to formulate plans to deal with him, like pulling a winger back to close the gaps around the full-back. One little dip of the shoulder followed by a strike of that sweet left foot and it all seems so futile.
One fascinating aspect of Yamal’s game is that people are beginning to realise the effectiveness of his in-swinging crosses. So much so, when another player does it, it’s not uncommon to hear, ‘Oh, he’s crossing like Yamal.’ We’re looking at one of the most impactful youngsters of the 21st century and a player who has earned genuine comparisons to teenage Lionel Messi.
You can’t ask for more than that.
- Nick Akerman
Left Wing: Raphinha
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There was a time when Barcelona fans weren’t convinced that Raphinha was quite the caliber of player worthy of the famous shirt.
But the Brazilian has well and truly silenced those doubters, especially after a memorable Champions League campaign.
The 28-year-old scored 13 goals and created eight more in just 14 games, including a hat-trick against Bayern Munich in the League Phase. In fact, his 21 goal contributions in the tournament matched the record-breaking output of Cristiano Ronaldo in the competition’s 2013-14 edition.
No matter what position he took up in the attacking berths, he was electric, taking on defenders for fun, getting his teammates involved in the action, and scoring stunning goals.
Unfortunately for him, Barcelona’s semi-final exit meant he couldn’t further his case for a Ballon d’Or in the tournament’s showpiece.
- Leo Collis
Center Forward: Ousmane Dembele
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PSG’s emphasis on youngsters has exploded their popularity this season. Amongst the youthful exuberance, though, is a 28-year-old who many had written off years ago. Ousmane Dembele’s season has simply come out of nowhere.
The Frenchman had never scored more than three goals in a Champions League campaign. This year, he netted eight, including the vital winner away at Arsenal. Throw in five assists, his best since 2016-17 with Dortmund, and you’ve got a player who is rightfully in the Ballon d’Or conversation. If you saw that coming, please ping me the lottery numbers when you get a moment.
- Nick Akerman
Manager: Luis Enrique
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Things didn’t start so well for PSG in the League Phase. The Parisiens won just one of their opening five games, putting qualification for the knockouts in serious jeopardy.
But a run of three straight wins ensured progression on the final matchday, with the 4-2 victory over an admittedly out-of-sorts Manchester City the standout result.
Manager Luis Enrique turned things around dramatically for the Ligue 1 side, with their performances in the competition from December onwards putting the rest of Europe’s elite on notice.
A rock-solid defense, an impeccable midfield, and a devastating forward line magically materialized, and by the round-of-16 meeting with League Phase-winners Liverpool, many considered PSG to be the tournament favorites.
The Spaniard deserves a huge amount of credit for orchestrating such a turnaround, and he’s finally delivered the trophy the French titans have been desperate to lift since the arrival of Qatar Sports Investments—which other quality managers have failed to manage.
In the final, he set his side up to swarm Inter, with the front three hounding the back line from every goal kick and the wing-backs fizzing all over the pitch.
It’s safe to say he won the battle of minds in the dugout.
- Leo Collis
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