Matvei Safonov made four straight penalty saves in a shootout to help Paris Saint-Germain beat Flamengo in the Intercontinental Cup final on Wednesday and win a sixth trophy of 2025.
The Russian goalkeeper was thrown in the air by his teammates after his exploits in the shootout that 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, which had already won the Trophée des Champions, the French league, the French Cup, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup — also on penalties against Tottenham in August.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia gave PSG the lead in the 38th minute before Marquinhos conceded a penalty converted by Jorginho in the 62nd minute for Flamengo, which was looking to win a second Intercontinental Cup title after 1981.
Flamengo captured the Copa Libertadores and the Brazilian championship titles in recent weeks.
It was a first global title for PSG.
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Star backup
Safonov, PSG’s backup goalkeeper, hadn’t played a single minute for the team until summer signing Lucas Chevalier sustained an ankle injury at the end of November.
Chevalier was fit enough to make the bench against Flamengo, but Safonov kept his place and ended up being the shootout 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.
Ousmane Dembele, crowned as the best men’s player of 2025 at the FIFA awards on Tuesday, was one of two players to fail to score from the spot for PSG.
European run
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 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.
Flamengo’s trophies
Despite the loss, Flamengo still returns from the Intercontinental Cup with two trophies — awarded by FIFA for winning inter-confederational 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.”
The Intercontinental Cup contained the six teams that won the continental title in each of FIFA’s confederations. PSG, as the Champions League winner in Europe, went directly to the final.
