Leg one between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich was soccer cinema with the Parisians winning 5-4 at their home stadium in the Champions League semifinal first leg. While both coaches marvelled at what they watched following the fixture, it was one where the stakes weren’t as high as what they will be at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday. Both teams are still going to come with the same attacking speed, but defensive miscues will loom even larger with a spot in the Champions League final only 90 to 120 minutes away when they take the pitch.
Being the reigning champions and also making the FIFA Club World Cup final during the summer, PSG are more than used to the bright lights of moments like these. Playing at home and needing to get out on the front foot due to being behind by a goal after the first leg, Vincent Kompany’s men will need to channel their attack to scoring early and often becasue leg one showed that no lead is truly safe with attacks of this caliber on display.
Viewing information
- Date: Wednesday, May 6 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
- Location: Allianz Arena — Munich
- TV: CBS | Live stream: Paramount+
- Odds: Bayern Munich -160; Draw +428; PSG +303
Luis Diaz showed just what individual moments mean with his unreal first touch and finish to bring this tie within a goal while also capitalizing on an amazing assist by Harry Kane, but the defenses and keepers are on notice. Lucas Chevalier was signed to be the replacement for Gianluigi Donnarumma when he left Paris for Manchester, but ended up losing his role to backup Matvey Safonov, who has done just enough to keep hold of the role.
Manuel Neuer has also been in and out of the net for Bayern Munich due to dealing with injuries this season, and this Champions League campaign has shown the highs and lows of rolling with the 40-year-old in net. He was a star performer when facing Real Madrid, but PSG were able to get shots by him that Neuer, at his peak powers, would save in other seasons. He’s still the best option that the Bavarians have in a defense that isn’t their strong suit, but they’ll need more of the Neuer versus Real Madrid than the one that showed up to face PSG, which is why he could be the most important player in the tie.
This is also why Bayern will need to channel Kompany’s calm under pressure because they’ve already seen how fast things can break down. While Bayern did fight back, it wasn’t until PSG had scored three unanswered goals to go up 5-2 in the tie that they got to their best in the match, and falling behind in a similar way could spell disaster in the second leg.
Luis Enrique has continued to mention that winning his second Champions League title with PSG will be easier than his first was, and that ease shows in his players. Bayern are trying to win their first UCL title since the 2019-20 title, which they defeated PSG to claim, but the difference is that if PSG go out, they can fall back to winning a title last campaign, while it’s not the same case for the Bavarians.
Arsenal will await the winner of this tie in what will be an epic clash in what will be an epic clash in Budapest, no matter who gets there, but Wednesday will also have the feel of a final. With two of the best teams in Europe on display yet again and chasing the highest scoring UCL semifinal in history, which is only 13 goals, more epic soccer is on the horizon.
