Whether scoring or creating, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia makes the difference for Paris Saint-Germain.
His team-leading 10 goals have played a huge part in helping titleholder PSG reach a second straight Champions League final.
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PSG's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, left, kicks the ball as Bayern's Dayot Upamecano tries to stop him during the Champions League semifinal second leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint Germain in Munich, Germany, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
PSG's Warren Zaire-Emery celebrates his teammate Ousmane Dembele's goal during the Champions League semifinal second leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint Germain in Munich, Germany, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
PSG's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia reacts after the goal of his teammate Ousmane Dembele during the Champions League semifinal second leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint Germain in Munich, Germany, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Bayern's Dayot Upamecano, right, challenges PSG's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia during the Champions League semifinal second leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint Germain in Munich, Germany, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
PSG's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, left, runs with the ball as Bayern's Dayot Upamecano tries to stop him during the Champions League semifinal second leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint Germain in Munich, Germany, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
His superb assist put PSG ahead early in a 1-1 draw at Bayern Munich on Wednesday for a 6-5 aggregate win against the six-time champions. That came after the 25-year-old Georgia star's two goals helped PSG win the first leg 5-4.
Kvaratskhelia was irrepressible in the semifinals, as he was against Monaco, Chelsea and Liverpool earlier in the Champions League campaign.
His awareness led to PSG's goal three minutes into the return leg and put Bayern on the back foot immediately, when many observers expected PSG to struggle early on.
Kvaratskhelia even started the move that led to PSG's goal.
Catching Bayern's midfield napping by dropping deep, he then released Fabián Ruiz with a brilliant flick with the outside of his right foot.
He then spun around to collect Ruiz's excellent first-time pass before sprinting down the left and picking out Dembélé with a fine pass across the penalty area. Dembélé shot powerfully into the roof of the net for his seventh goal of the competition.
Bayern had some spells of possession but never recovered from the early blow and, at the end, Kvaratskhelia’s boundless energy and runs almost led to another PSG goal.
“We have a magnificent team, a young team, we fight together," PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said. "We have stars but everyone fights. Look at the last minute, Kvara is cooked (but) kept fighting."
Dembélé was PSG's key player last season, and now it could be Kvaratskhelia's turn to shine when PSG faces Arsenal in the final on May 30.
“We’re very happy, we know it will be very difficult against Arsenal,” Kvaratskhelia said. “I’m working every day and getting back with assists or goals. I will do everything for the team.”
Real Madrid won three straight times from 2016-18.
PSG coach Luis Enrique has shown remarkable flexibility with his team selections, astutely coping with injuries and juggling positional changes without disrupting the efficiency of his team.
He was in the mood to celebrate, in moderation.
“It’s incredible," Luis Enrique said. “We have to make the most of this night, but we have to think about the final.”
Although he is on the verge of winning the Champions League for the third time as a coach — having triumphed with Barcelona in 2015 — the former box-to-box midfielder typically deflected praise away from himself.
“It shows the kind of players we have and what kind of team we are. I think we showed a level of maturity today," he said. "Knowing when to defend, when to attack. As a coach it’s a real pleasure to see this kind of performance.”
He had no hesitation picking Ruiz, who recently returned from a knee injury sustained against Sporting on Jan. 22. Ruiz took the place of Warren Zaïre-Emery, who in turn dropped down to right back to replace the injured Achraf Hakimi.
It made little difference to PSG's rhythm.
Zaïre-Emery had a solid game and largely contained the runs of winger Luis Díaz, who scored a brilliant goal in the first leg and netted twice against PSG in a group-stage win in November.
Kvaratskhelia's ability to defend or attack with equal commitment and aplomb is symbolic of this PSG team and a far cry from the days of chasing big names and falling short on Europe's biggest stage.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
PSG's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, left, kicks the ball as Bayern's Dayot Upamecano tries to stop him during the Champions League semifinal second leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint Germain in Munich, Germany, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
PSG's Warren Zaire-Emery celebrates his teammate Ousmane Dembele's goal during the Champions League semifinal second leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint Germain in Munich, Germany, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
PSG's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia reacts after the goal of his teammate Ousmane Dembele during the Champions League semifinal second leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint Germain in Munich, Germany, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Bayern's Dayot Upamecano, right, challenges PSG's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia during the Champions League semifinal second leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint Germain in Munich, Germany, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
PSG's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, left, runs with the ball as Bayern's Dayot Upamecano tries to stop him during the Champions League semifinal second leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint Germain in Munich, Germany, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
PORTSMOUTH, Va. (AP) — The FBI searched the Virginia state Senate leader's hometown office and her neighboring cannabis shop Wednesday, bringing into public view what was described as a yearslong corruption investigation.
The searches at Democratic Sen. L. Louise Lucas' office and cannabis business are part of what two people familiar with the matter called a corruption inquiry. One of the people said the investigation was opened during Democratic former President Joe Biden's administration. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing criminal investigation.
While the probe apparently has spanned administrations of different political parties, Democrats viewed it against a backdrop of recent, politically charged inquiries during President Donald Trump’s tenure. Lucas was a prominent voice in Virginia's recent redistricting effort, a Democrat-led initiative to counter Republican redrawing pushed by Trump.
The FBI said only that it was conducting a court-authorized search in Portsmouth. Such searches require approval from a judge and for investigators to assert that they believe they have identified probable cause of a crime.
A message seeking comment was left on a cellphone for Lucas, who has been a state senator for 34 years. Her daughter Lisa Lucas Burke told WAVY-TV that the family had no idea what the federal action was about.
“We're trying to figure it out. That's all I know,” she said.
Besides the search at Lucas' office, which houses her disabilities services business and is her political base in Portsmouth, agents in FBI T-shirts also went into the nearby cannabis store, which she opened in 2021. Several entrances to the Cannabis Outlet's parking lot were blocked by unmarked vehicles with flashing blue lights, as was an entrance to the politician's office.
By evening, agents were carrying boxes and bags out of the shop's back door.
Lucas, a prominent backer of legalizing marijuana, has said the store sells legal hemp and CBD products. It has drawn scrutiny from local media amid allegations that some products were mislabeled.
Virginia has legalized pot possession, but retail sales of recreational marijuana remain illegal in the state.
A woman who identified herself as Lucas’ granddaughter, Nicole Bremby, came by after agents left to check on the Cannabis Outlet. She declined to discuss the raids.
“I’ve had better days,” she said. “It’s all good. Everyone is home.”
State House Speaker Don Scott said he was deeply concerned by the FBI search.
“Right now, there is far more theatrics and speculation than actual information available to the public,” Scott, a Democrat, said in a statement, adding that more facts were needed “before anyone rushes to political conclusions.”
Gov. Abigail Spanberger declined to comment.
Other Virginia Democrats were quick to note that the search comes as the FBI and Justice Department have opened a spate of investigations into perceived adversaries of Trump.
Last week the Justice Department charged former FBI Director James Comey with making a threatening Instagram post against Trump, an accusation that Comey — who for nearly a decade has drawn the president’s ire — has denied. A court dismissed federal prosecutors' earlier case accusing Comey of lying to Congress.
A separate mortgage fraud case, also ultimately dismissed by a court, targeted Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought a major civil fraud lawsuit against Trump and his business. Both she and Comey, a longtime Republican who split from the party in the past decade, denied the charges and said the prosecutions were vindictive.
Such cases “have undermined public confidence” in federal prosecutors in Virginia, Democratic state Attorney General Jay Jones said in a statement.
The FBI and Justice Department have also provoked concerns among Democrats about ongoing election-related investigations, including the seizure by agents of ballots and other information from Fulton County, Georgia.
Lucas has been a vocal leader of Virginia's redistricting effort, which voters approved last month. A sign urging people to “vote yes” to “stop the MAGA power grab” still hung Wednesday on a fence separating her office's parking lot from that of the cannabis shop.
Amid a national, state-by-state partisan redistricting fight kicked off by Trump’s desire to aid his fellow Republicans, Virginia voters OK'd a Democrat-backed constitutional amendment authorizing new U.S. House districts. The plan could help the party win up to four additional seats.
“We are not going to let anyone tilt the system without a response,” Lucas said after the vote. Trump, meanwhile, denounced the results.
The state Supreme Court let the referendum proceed but has yet to rule on whether the effort is legal. The court is considering an appeal of a lower court judge’s ruling that the amendment is invalid because lawmakers violated procedural requirements.
Voting districts typically are redrawn once a decade, after each census. But Trump last year urged Texas Republicans to redraw House districts to give the GOP an edge in the midterms. California Democrats reciprocated, and redistricting efforts soon cascaded across states.
Lucas, 82, has been a figure in Virginia politics since the 1980s, when she became the first Black woman elected to a city council seat in her native Portsmouth. She now is the first woman and first African American to serve as the Senate’s president pro tempore.
Earlier in life she was the Norfolk Naval Shipyard's first female shipfitter, according to her biography in the state library. The job entails making, installing and repairing sometimes enormous metal assemblies for vessels.
In recent years she has been the CEO of a Portsmouth business that runs residences, day programs and transportation for intellectually disabled adults.
Associated Press journalists Dylan Lovan in Louisville, Kentucky, Jake Offenhartz in New York, Claudia Lauder in Philadelphia and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed.
FBI personnel enter a building in Portsmouth, Va., Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/John Clark)
FBI personnel enter a building in Portsmouth, Va., Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/John Clark)
FBI personnel enter a building in Portsmouth, Va., Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/John Clark)
FBI personnel enter a building in Portsmouth, Va., Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/John Clark)
FILE - Virginia Senate President pro tempore Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, listens to debate on the Senate floor, Feb. 17, 2026, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Ryan M. Kelly, File)
