Two PSG players 'refuse to shake hands' during inter-squad friendly before Champions League final

When Paris Saint-Germain drew with Bayern Munich in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final, they were a phenomenally well-oiled machine.

PSG scored in the third minute of their away leg and kept Bayern at bay until Harry Kane's late equaliser in vain.

It was a flawless example of a team operating in harmony and evidence that the natural tensions of a professional squad don't need to be to the detriment of performance.

One player who wasn't on the pitch that night was defender Ilya Zabarnyi, who joined the Parisians from AFC Bournemouth last summer after a terrific spell in the Premier League.

The 23-year-old played in six of PSG's previous Champions League fixtures, starting twice, and hasn't appeared since the league phase.

Zabarnyi and PSG goalkeeper Matvey Safonov lined up on different sides of a practice match in advance of the team's Champions League final against Arsenal on May 30.

Cameras being everywhere these days, it was spotted that Zabarnyi and Safonov elected not to shake hands as the two halves of the squad greeted one another on the training ground.

There has been no clarity around the reason behind the refusal but the obvious assumption – one that has been commonly made in the aftermath – relates to their nationalities.

Zabarnyi is from Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. 27-year-old Safonov was born in the Russian city of Stavropol.

Although the pair have appeared together in 13 matches this season, once in the Champions League, it neither surprising that a Ukrainian and a Russian might choose to decline a handshake in a slightly strange contrived situation, nor that a football team would have internal frictions that have no effect on what happens on the pitch when the time comes.

PSG are targeting back-to-back Champions League wins

Zabarnyi and Safonov have been on the field together for more than 1,000 minutes in the 2025-26 season but it's unlikely given Luis Enrique's recent team selections that they will add to those numbers in Budapest at the end of the month.

PSG have powered their way to a second successive Champions League final after finally achieving the European title they craved last term.

The Parisians defeated Arsenal 3-1 on aggregate in the semi-finals in 2024-25 and will face Mikel Arteta's side again at the Puskas Arena next weekend, this time with the trophy on the line.