While the success of Bayern Munich’s season may not hinge on this Champions League semifinal tie against Paris Saint-Germain, it feels like it does as the Bravarians enter the most important stretch of games under Vincent Kompany. While they have already wrapped up the Bundesliga title, winning their first Champions League title since 2020, where they also toppled PSG, is what’s needed to mark their place in history.
Even with Kompany suspended for the first leg after receiving his third yellow card of the competition in the quarterfinals against Real Madrid, the visitors are fully expected to provide PSG with a challenge, and the winners of the tie will enter the UCL final as the favorites.
While winning the Bundesliga is a formality for Bayern, and they can still win the DFB Pokal as well to do the domestic double, Kompany joined in order to bring stability back to the club and push them back to their European highs, where they rubbed shoulders with Real Madrid and Barcelona. Only 270 minutes separate them from accomplishing that goal. That improvement under Kompany is something that isn’t lost on former Bayern right back Philipp Lahm, even with his absence from the first leg.
“He brought this calmness to the club, and he has a good style of communicating with the outside. The team has immense offensive quality, but defensively, they’re often defending one versus one, and that might be a risk, especially looking at the semifinal where you’re playing a PSG team that has great individual quality,” Lahm told the media in a roundtable. “But Kompany is a great representative of the club, and he really has the style of communication that you want to see from a Bayern coach. He was also able to establish the first team or the first 12-13 players, so he established a hierarchy, and this also provides security for the players.”
That communication style is something that has been seen both on and off the pitch as Kompany has spoken out against racism following the racial abuse that Vinicius Junior received while facing Benfica. He has also spoken about the historic moments happening in the league as well, such as Marie-Loise Eta’s appointment as head coach of Union Berlin, the first time that a woman has led a team in Germany’s top flight.
But internally, how a manager deals with their players is important, but those moments where a manager is a club representative are also critical at a super club like Bayern. Kompany has balanced that well while also building a machine on the pitch, and nothing has been able to get in Bayern’s way so far this season.
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It’s a different animal when facing PSG, who are the reigning champions of Europe, and of course, as a former right back himself, Lahm sees this tie being one that’s decided by the defenders.
“PSG are very strong individually,” Lahm said. “They have a very strong offense, and obviously, they’re tough defenders. Bayern are scoring goals, and we’re seeing that both in the Bundesliga and the Champions League, but this game will be decided by the defense, so yeah, that’s key to the game.”
There are few teams in the world that can match Bayern’s attack of Michael Olise, Harry Kane, and Luis Diaz, but PSG are a side that can match. The loss of Serge Gnabry for the remainder of the season is a big one, but it at least coincides with Jamal Musiala returning to full fitness. Between Muisala and Alphonso Davies, those will be the guys that Bayern looks to make a difference, but they need to be wary of the game-changing moments that PSG can bring.
How to watch Paris Saint-Germain vs. Bayern Munich, odds
- Date: Tuesday, April 29 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
- Location: Parc des Princes — Paris, France
- TV: CBS | Live stream: Paramount+
- Odds: PSG +130; Draw +280; Bayern Munich +175
“We’ve seen that in the group stage as well, when Bayern played PSG, that they can do this one versus one across all positions, but it’s important to decide the situation based on what the approach should be because we’ve also seen that in the first leg of the Real game, when you lose the one-versus-one in just one position, suddenly the opponent will have lots of space,” Lahm said. “We saw that when [Jude] Bellingham came in and losing a one-versus-one situation, suddenly there were 22-30 meters of space, so you can try this approach, but it might be wiser to defend focused on space rather than having these individual one-versus-one situations.”
In more or less words, Lahm’s warning reads as look out for Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. The man earned the nickname “Kvaradone” at Napoli for a reason, and his arrival at PSG is what put the team over the top to win the Champions League last season. If he’s not contained, Bayern will have a long day at the office despite their own attacking strength. Kompany has been able to push the right buttons so far this season, but this is one where he’ll need to be at his best.
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Of course, for the first leg, it will need to be managed without their leader on the sidelines, but plenty of prep will have been done to be ready. If Bayern are to get back to being among Europe’s elite, this is a tie that they have to win. The stage is set to do it and end their small Champions League drought with facing PSG being the ultimate measuring stick.
