Despite the game pitting the reigning Ligue 1 champions against the Coupe de France victors, this showpiece event is rarely staged in France, with Qatar hosting this one-off clash for the first time ever in 2025.
It was little surprise then that the game had more of a pre-season tour feel to it in the early stages, but the Parisians came close to lighting the touchpaper inside 10 minutes when Desire Doue nearly punished a Philipp Kohn error, but his strike crashed back off the crossbar.
PSG had the lion’s share of play in the opening 45 minutes and again came close to taking the lead midway through the first half when Dembele skipped past two defenders and forced a fine save out of Kohn.
It took Monaco until five minutes before the break to truly test Gianluigi Donnarumma in the PSG goal, and even when they did, the Italian stopper produced a comfortable save to deny Maghnes Akliouche from the edge of the area.
There was certainly a larger sense of urgency from both teams to find a winner after the break, owing to the scorching Qatar heat, thus wanting to find a winner within 90 minutes.
Both sides traded blows in the opening stages of the second half, but it was Monaco who came closest to finding the elusive opener when Vanderson crashed an effort off the crossbar.
After that flurry of activity though, a lull followed, where it almost felt as though the pair were content for the game to go to penalties.
Achraf Hakimi spurned a great chance to win the cup 15 minutes from time for PSG when his near post effort forced a smart stop out of the Monaco keeper, and after that point there almost felt like an acceptance from the pair that a breakthrough wasn’t going to be found.
That wasn’t an acceptance shared by Dembele though, who was PSG’s bright spark throughout, as he popped up at the far post to steer Fabian Ruiz’s delivery into an unguarded net and ensure the trophy was heading back to the French capital.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Ousmane Dembele (Paris Saint-Germain)