Two teams, both top of their leagues. Both averaged over three goals a game in the Champions League this season. One Parc des Princes. If this first leg doesn’t deliver, nothing will. This PSG vs Bayern Champions League semi-final already has all the ingredients of a classic.
PSG are the defending champions. Bayern are the outright favourites. Whoever gets through this tie will be strongly fancied to win the whole thing in Budapest in May, where either Arsenal or Atletico Madrid will be waiting.
The form is going in strong for both sides heading into this PSG vs Bayern Champions League semi-final. PSG have won eight of their last nine games and scored at least three goals in six of those nine. Bayern have won nine in a row. Both sides have had their wobbles this season but neither is wobbling right now.
PSG beat Liverpool 4-0 on aggregate in the quarters. Bayern beat Real Madrid 6-4. Neither of those results suggest teams that are there to make up the numbers. This PSG vs Bayern Champions League semi-final is exactly the kind of tie fans wait all season for.
Both clubs have scored 38 goals in the Champions League this season, more than anyone else in the competition. This is what happens when two of Europe’s best attacks meet in a two-legged tie. Goals are not a question in this PSG vs Bayern Champions League semi-final.
Why Bayern’s recent record matters
Here’s the uncomfortable truth for PSG fans. Bayern have won each of their last five Champions League games against PSG. In those five matches, PSG scored just one goal. That’s a historically bad record against one opponent, and it’s the kind of thing that gets in a team’s head.
Bayern already won at the Parc des Princes this season, 2-1 in the league phase, despite playing the entire second half with ten men after Luis Diaz was sent off. Won with ten men. In Paris. That’s a psychological edge you can’t manufacture, especially in a high-pressure PSG vs Bayern Champions League semi-final.
The players who decide it
Harry Kane has scored 12 Champions League goals this season, already the most by an English player in a single European Cup campaign. He has scored in each of his last four knockout stage games. If he finds the net again, he could make history.
PSG’s danger comes from everywhere at once. Kvaratskhelia leads their Champions League scoring with seven goals. Dembele has five. Hakimi has four assists from right back. Luis Enrique has built a team that can hurt you from every angle, and Dembele in particular has been the kind of player who makes defenders look silly this season.
One area PSG will look to exploit is Bayern’s right side. Olise isn’t the most willing defensive runner and Josip Stanisic is relatively inexperienced against attackers of this quality. Nuno Mendes should get license to attack down that channel.
What to expect
Vincent Kompany is suspended for the first leg, which removes an important voice from the touchline on one of the biggest nights Bayern have had in years. PSG are on the brink of becoming the first French club to record 100 Champions League wins. There’s history on the line for both sides in this semi-final.
PSG want revenge for that league phase defeat. Bayern want to prove five wins in a row was no fluke. Both teams are in form. Both teams can score freely.
Back-of-the-net stuff. Literally.
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