Paris Saint-Germain v Bayern Munich: Champions League semi-final, first leg – live | Champions League
Key occasions
20 min: Kane picks up possession 35 yards out. He might advance and shoot, however rolls in Olise to his proper. Olise is one on one with Safonov, and he is a bit too informal in his try to brush into the underside proper. The keeper will get sufficient on the shot to dam, and PSG clear their traces. It must be 0-2.
19 min: …and so Bayern sustain their report of scoring in each match they’ve performed this season. Just the 168 objectives to this point. The greatest workforce in Europe? It’s wanting that approach proper now.
GOAL! Paris Saint-Germain 0-1 Bayern Munich (Kane 17 pen)
Kane takes a stuttering step… waits for Safonov to commit himself… then whip-cracks the penalty into the bottom-right nook. Easy as that! Or he makes it look straightforward, anyway. That’s his thirty seventh profitable penalty for Bayern out of 37 makes an attempt, and his 54th objective of the season!
Penalty to Bayern!
16 min: A ball rolled into the PSG field down the center by Olise. Diaz takes management and shapes to shoot, however is then nicknamed by Pacho’s slide sort out. The referee factors to the spot!
15 min: PSG work the ball proper to left throughout the entrance of the Bayern field. Kvaratskhelia bursts into house. I’ve crosses. Doue clears. Bayern counter, and…
14 min: Kimmich loops the nook in from the left. It goes proper underneath the bar, and Safonov does extraordinarily nicely to punch powerfully clear underneath massive stress.
13 min: Kimmich wedges the set play into the mixer, forcing Vitinha to move behind underneath stress from the lurking Kane.
12 min: Diaz blazes his approach down the inside-left channel earlier than trying to cut infield previous Marquinhos. The PSG captain is not having that, and stands his floor. Illegally so, and goes into the e-book. Another free kick for Bayern, 30 yards out.
11 min: Kimmich fizzes the free kick low and proper to Olise, who will get previous Zaïre-Emery however cannot repeat the trick with Doue. PSG clear.
10 min: Kane takes his first contact of the ball and is abruptly clattered by Zaïre-Emery. That’ll be a free kick, 30 yards out in a central place. “Booting the ball into touch straight from the kick-off has got to be the most annoying tactical trend this season,” writes Peter Oh, teeing himself up for the punchline. “I say kick it out!”
8 min: … after which all of the sudden Doue makes good down the left, however his low cutback would not go anyplace close to a blue PSG shirt. A crimson Bayern one intercepts and clears.
7 min: PSG take their flip to have a go on the ball. They move it across the again awhile, patiently so.
5 min: Olise tries down the opposite flank, and will get the higher of Mendes, however his low cross is lower out by Safonov, who handles confidently. A number of whistling, given Bayern’s equally assured begin.
3 min: Olise tries to advance down the left however Zaïre-Emery is throughout him in a flash. It’s a high-octane begin, and Bayern are seeing extra of the ball.
2 min: Stanišić sends an extended throw down the proper for Musiala, who gathers by the PSG field earlier than returning the ball to the Bayern right-back. Stanišić crosses. Pacho heads clear. A optimistic begin by the guests.
PSG get the ball rolling. Or relatively boot it into contact, rugby-union model. That’s soccer!
The groups are out! And the band strikes up…
♫ ♪ ♬ Die Meister
Die Besten
The nice groups
The chaaaaaaaaaaampions! ♪ 🎵 🎶
A uncommon previous racket within the Parc des Princes, the house followers giving it a lotthe touring contingent from Bavaria doing their greatest to counter the noise. We’ll be off in a minute!
Pre-match postbag. “In the city of light and all things artistic (some might say pretentious), it’s three jolie to see your photographer going all avant garde with that image of what, in two hours time will be a very smelly (bad smelly if you’re being pretentious) room (living room). Gives your buildup a certain he ne sais pas atmosphere. And…in the hometown of Les Miserables, pity the poor sod in the stands who finds himself sat next to Vincent Kompany. But they say Kompany loves misery, or something like that” – Justin Kavanagh
“Obviously the neutrals will and should be cheering on PSG. The essence of the Champions League is to help oligarchs, kleptocracies and unelected dictators gloss their tatty reputations, and I am sickened by the idea of some fan-owned Teutonic meritocracy – ugh – getting their unsullied hands on the trophy. I can’t wait for General Zod or Lord Vader to swoop down and buy a club. “Or Satan” – Paul Griffin
“Are we all ready for a Neuer howler to get things going?” – krishnamoorthy v
Vincent Kompany is replaced in the Bayern dugout tonight by his assistant Aaron Danks. The 42-year-old Brummie is best known in his own country as the man who took charge of Aston Villa for two matches after the sacking of Steven Gerrard, before joining Michael Carrick’s backroom team at Middlesbrough. But he’d already worked as Kompany’s assistant at Anderlecht, and so came to Munich with his old mucker in June 2024.
As well as working with the team, Danks is also reportedly responsible for the daily safekeeping of a cockatoo statue that has quickly become a symbol of success at Bayern. The porcelain parrot was on display in the Munich restaurant where the team watched Bayer Leverkusen draw with Freiburg last season, a result that gave Bayern the Bundesliga title, and caught the eye of one of the players, who nabbed it as a lucky charm. The following week, the cockatoo became part of Bayern’s title celebrations, and has since been spotted front and center of their Supercup hi-jinx as well as this year’s Bundesliga party. The restaurant owner has since joked the bird “flew away to watch a great football adventure up close.”
Expect it to flap again into motion ought to Bayern win the German Cup and/or the Champions League. Rumors that the gamers have named the chook Danski, after its new keeper, are unconfirmed.
Good news for Paris Saint-Germain: Vitinha starts. He’s back after two domestic games out with a right heel problem, so the holders are able to name the same starting XI that beat Liverpool 2-0 at Anfield a fortnight ago. Warren Zaïre-Emery gets the nod over Fabián Ruiz in midfield, the latter having only just recently returned from injury.
Bayern Munich boss Vincent Kompany will watch from the stand, having been handed a one-match suspension for picking up three yellow cards in this season’s tournament. The latest came during the tumultuous quarter-final victory in Munich over Real Madrid, for telling the referee how he saw it in the wake of a challenge on Josip Stanišić that didn’t lead to the award of a free kick but did lead to a Real goal. Alphonso Davies is in for Konrad Laimer, the only change to the Bayern starting XI from that match. Harry Kane, looking for his 54th goal of the season, leads the line.
The teams
Paris Saint-Germain: Safonov, Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Nuno Mendes, Zaïre-Emery, Vitinha, João Neves, Doué, Dembélé, Kvaratskhelia.
Subs: Chevalier, Marin, Beraldo, Zabarnyi, Ruiz, Ramos, Lee, Hernández, Mayulu, Fernández, Barcola, Mbaye.
Bayern Munich: Neuer, Stanišić, Upamecano, Tah, Davies, Kimmich, Pavolvic, Olise, Musiala, Díaz, Kane.
Subs: Ulreich, Urbig, Kim, Goretzka, Jackson, Ito, Laimer, Ofli, Pavic.
Referee: Sandro Schärer (Switzerland).
♫ ♪ ♬ “Memorieeees light the corners of my mind…” ♪ 🎵 🎶 Here’s what happened when the teams met in the Big League phase back in November…
…plus a reminder of how issues panned out in that 2020 ultimate…
… however within the curiosity of stability, here is the one time PSG have averted defeat of their final eight conferences with Bayern, a whirlwind victory that led to their putting out the then-holders in the 2021 quarter-finals.
Preamble
It’s been a slow crescendo – little by little – but the Champions League has been building up to this: a summit meeting between the best two teams in the competition. On the face of it, you’d have a good job confidently predicting the outcome of a tie between the outrageously talented holders and a side who have won 11 of their 12 games in the competition this season and simply don’t know when they’re beaten. But then Bayern have won the last five games between the clubs, and seven in the last eight, including the 2020 final, so apologies for clouding your mind. The Paris Match begins at 8pm BST. C’est parti!