DOHA, Qatar (AP) — 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.
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Flamengo fans pose for a photograph prior to the start of the FIFA Intercontinental Cup final soccer match between Flamengo and Paris Saint-Germain in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Sayed)
Flamengo's Jorginho scores his side's opening goal during the FIFA Intercontinental Cup final soccer match between Flamengo and Paris Saint-Germain in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Sayed)
PSG players celebrate after winning the FIFA Intercontinental Cup final soccer match between Flamengo and Paris Saint-Germain in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Sayed)
PSG's goalkeeper Matvey Safonov stop a ball in the penalty shootout during the FIFA Intercontinental Cup final soccer match between Flamengo and Paris Saint-Germain in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Sayed)
PSG's goalkeeper Matvey Safonov holds the trophy after winning the FIFA Intercontinental Cup final soccer match between Flamengo and Paris Saint-Germain in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Sayed)
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Flamengo fans pose for a photograph prior to the start of the FIFA Intercontinental Cup final soccer match between Flamengo and Paris Saint-Germain in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Sayed)
Flamengo's Jorginho scores his side's opening goal during the FIFA Intercontinental Cup final soccer match between Flamengo and Paris Saint-Germain in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Sayed)
PSG players celebrate after winning the FIFA Intercontinental Cup final soccer match between Flamengo and Paris Saint-Germain in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Sayed)
PSG's goalkeeper Matvey Safonov stop a ball in the penalty shootout during the FIFA Intercontinental Cup final soccer match between Flamengo and Paris Saint-Germain in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Sayed)
PSG's goalkeeper Matvey Safonov holds the trophy after winning the FIFA Intercontinental Cup final soccer match between Flamengo and Paris Saint-Germain in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Sayed)
HELSINGBORG, Sweden (AP) — NATO allies and defense officials expressed bewilderment Friday at U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would send 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland just weeks after ordering the same number of forces pulled out of Europe.
The apparent change of mind came after weeks of statements from Trump and his administration about reducing — not increasing — the U.S. military footprint in Europe. Trump's initial order set off a flurry of action among military commanders and left allies already doubtful about America's commitment to Europe's security to ponder what forces they might have to backfill on NATO's eastern flank with Russia and Ukraine.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration said it was reducing levels in Europe by about 5,000 troops, and U.S. officials confirmed about 4,000 service members were no longer rotating into Poland from Germany. The dispatch to Germany of U.S. personnel trained to fire long-range missiles was also halted.
But in a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump said he would now send "an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland,” citing his strong ties with Polish President Karol Nawrocki, whom Trump endorsed in elections last year.
“It is confusing indeed, and not always easy to navigate,” Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told reporters Friday at a meeting she was hosting of her NATO counterparts, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Ministers from the Netherlands and Norway were sanguine about Trump’s latest move, as was Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže, who said allies knew the U.S. troop “posture was being reconsidered, and now there is no change of posture. For now.”
U.S. defense officials also expressed confusion. “We just spent the better part of two weeks reacting to the first announcement. We don’t know what this means either,” said one of two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.
But Rubio said Washington’s allies understand that changes in the U.S. troop presence in Europe will come as the Trump administration reevaluates its force needs. “I think there’s a broad recognition that there are going to be eventually less U.S. troops in Europe than there has historically been for a variety of reasons,” he said.
The latest surprise came despite a U.S. pledge to coordinate troop deployments, including one from NATO’s top military officer, U.S. Lt. Gen. Alex Grynkewich, on Wednesday.
Trump's initial announcement that he would withdraw troops came as he fumed over remarks by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said that the U.S. was being “humiliated” by the Iranian leadership and criticized what he called a lack of strategy in that war.
Trump told reporters that the U.S. would be cutting even more than 5,000 and also announced new tariffs on European cars. Germany is the continent’s biggest auto producer.
Rubio insisted that Trump’s decision “is not a punitive thing. It’s just something that’s ongoing.”
About 80,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Europe. The Pentagon is required to keep at least 76,000 troops and major equipment on the continent unless NATO allies are consulted and there is a determination that such a withdrawal is in U.S. interests.
The withdrawal of 5,000 troops might drop numbers below that limit.
But Trump's latest post suggests that troop numbers in Europe would not change. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski welcomed the decision to send more forces to his country, saying it ensures that “the presence of American troops in Poland will be maintained more or less at previous levels.”
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte also welcomed the move. On Thursday, before Trump took to Truth Social again, Rutte had underlined that it was important for Europe to take care of its own security. “We have a process in place. This is normal business,” he told reporters.
At NATO headquarters in Brussels, meanwhile, U.S. officials briefed the allies on the Pentagon's aims for its commitments to the NATO Force Model, which involves contingency planning for Europe’s defense in the event of serious security concerns. It was widely expected that a further reduction of U.S. forces would be coming.
Asked whether any cuts were announced, Rutte said: “I’m afraid it’s much more complicated than that.” He said the procedure “is highly classified” and declined to give details.
Rubio played down concerns about a shift in U.S. force levels in Europe, saying: "Every country has to constantly reevaluate what their needs are, what their commitments are around the world, and how to properly structure that.”
Cook reported from Brussels. Associated Press writer Emma Burrows in London contributed.
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with journalists during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, front second left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, front left, speak with each other during a group photo at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte look at each other as they deliver a statement during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže speaks at the doorstep of the NATO foreign ministers' meeting at Sea U in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte deliver a statement during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks to media at the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives with his wife Jeanette at Malmo Airport, Friday, May 22, 2026, in Malmo-Sturup, Sweden, ahead of a NATO foreign ministers meeting. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, second from left, shakes hands with Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson, as he is greeted by King Carl Gustaf of Sweden, Queen Silvia of Sweden and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden Maria Malmer Stenergard, right, before a dinner at Sofiero Castle in Helsingborg, Sweden, Thursday May 21 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard speaks to media at the NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Helsingborg, Sweden, Friday, May 22, 2026. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)
