Fabian Ruiz slid the ball into the corner from a cutback at the back post in the 86th minute at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday, and the Champions League tie was finished. Up in the TNT Sports studio, Joe Cole reached for a line that will follow the Spain midfielder into every post-match debate this week.

“They put it to bed,” Cole said of the goal, before adding that Ruiz “could be the most underrated player of all time.”

The verdict was built, Cole argued, on a simple ledger. “He’s won everything in the game, Champions League, does his job, always in,” he told viewers. “And what I would say is, they look a stronger side with him in.”

A trophy case that writes its own argument

The last twelve months alone are the awkward part of the case against calling Ruiz anything other than elite. In that window the 30-year-old has lifted the World Cup with Spain and added the Champions League with PSG to a growing collection of French domestic honours since arriving from Napoli in 2022.

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Tuesday’s goal at the back post was his 18th in 178 PSG appearances.

He is not a goal-of-the-season player. He is the player who happens to be in the right place when PSG need the game put away.

Why the credit never catches up

Ballon d’Or shortlists, best-XI debates, highlight reels: Ruiz tends to miss all of them. Spanish outlet Marca framed the same complaint, asking what Ruiz has to do to win the Ballon d’Or and arguing his all-pitch impact rivals that of Pedri, Dani Olmo and Rodri combined.

Part of it is the position. A deep-lying playmaker who covers, screens and recycles will always lose the room to a winger with a montage. Part of it is PSG’s cast list; alongside Désiré Doué, Vitinha, Ousmane Dembélé and the Hernández brothers, Ruiz is rarely the headline act.

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Cole’s point was that the headline is wrong. On the biggest nights, Ruiz is often the one who finishes the argument.

PSG top of the pile after three matchdays

Tuesday’s win kept PSG perfect in this season’s Champions League with nine points from three games. Theo Hernández, Désiré Doué and Vitinha also scored for the hosts; Lamine Yamal was on the scoresheet for Barcelona, who dropped from second to fifth in the league phase after their first dropped points. Dembélé went off at the 19-minute mark with a hamstring problem, a complication PSG will have to manage into the next round of fixtures.

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