Matvei Safonov on Wednesday made four straight penalty saves in a penalty shoot-out to help Paris Saint-Germain beat Flamengo in the Intercontinental Cup final and win a sixth trophy of the year.
The Russian goalkeeper was thrown in the air by his teammates after his exploits in the shoot-out, which was won 2-1 by PSG after a 1-1 draw after extra-time.
It completed a trophy-laden 12 months for the French team, who had already won the Trophee des Champions, Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup — also on penalties against Tottenham Hotspur in August.
Photo: AP
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia gave PSG the lead in the 38th minute before Marquinhos conceded a penalty converted by Jorginho in the 62nd minute for Flamengo, who were looking to win a second Intercontinental Cup title after 1981.
Flamengo captured the Copa Libertadores and the Brazilian championship titles in the past few weeks.
It was a first global title for PSG.
Photo: AP
Safonov, PSG’s backup goalkeeper, had not played a single minute for the team until summer signing Lucas Chevalier sustained an ankle injury at the end of last month.
Chevalier was fit enough to make the bench against Flamengo, but Safonov kept his place and ended up being the shoot-out hero after successive saves from Saul Niguez, Pedro, Leo Pereira and Luiz Araujo.
Of nine penalties taken, only three were scored — Flamengo’s first by Samuel Lino, and then Vitinha and Nuno Mendes for PSG.
Photo: AP
Ousmane Dembele, crowned as the best men’s player of this year at the FIFA awards on Tuesday, was one of two players to fail to score from the spot for PSG.
PSG’s success maintained a run of victories for European teams in the final of the Intercontinental Cup, which was played for more than 40 years until 2004 before it was rebranded as the Club World Cup.
FIFA brought back the Intercontinental Cup last year after revamping the FIFA Club World Cup as a 32-team summer tournament, which had its inaugural edition this year — with PSG losing in the final to Chelsea.
The last non-European team to win either the Club World Cup or the rebranded Intercontinental Cup was Corinthians in 2012.
Despite the loss, Flamengo still return from the Intercontinental Cup with two trophies — awarded by FIFA for winning inter-confederation matches to get to the final.
Flamengo beat Cruz Azul in what was classed by organizers as the “Derby of the Americas.” Then the Brazilian champions beat Pyramids 2-0, in what was essentially a playoff to get to the final, and won the Challenger Cup.
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