Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain, the defending champions, will decide the ‘early final’ of the Champions League, facing each other in the second leg of the semi-finals, which will also break the deadlock between Arsenal and Atlético Madrid.
Following their sensational 5-4 victory in the French capital, PSG holds a slight advantage for Wednesday’s game in Germany, a day after the English side – who eliminated Sporting in the quarter-finals – host the Spanish team, following a 1-1 draw in Madrid, a result that, as expected, was less extravagant.
The first leg of the semi-finals confirmed exactly what was expected from the two ties and the reason why the winner of the clash between the current champions and the German giants, the third club with the most Champions League titles (six trophies), is considered a kind of early champion.
Of the four semi-finalists, Bayern Munich is the club with the most history (having won the European Cup in 1974, 1975, 1976, 2001, 2013 and 2020, the last thanks to a 1-0 victory over PSG in the final played in Lisbon), but needs to recover from a narrow defeat, as they could have been in a much more precarious position, having been 5-2 down in Paris.
The two most productive attacks in this edition of the Champions League justified that status at the Parc des Princes, with the contribution of Portuguese midfielder João Neves, who scored one of the Parisians’ goals, in a game where his compatriots Nuno Mendes and Vitinha were also starters for the home team and Gonçalo Ramos was an unused substitute.
João Neves scored PSG’s second goal in the 33rd minute, with braces also coming from Georgian Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (24th and 56th minutes) and Ousmane Dembélé (45+5, penalty, and 59th minute). Meanwhile, Englishman Harry Kane, the second-highest scorer in the competition with 13 goals, and Frenchman Michael Olise scored for the Germans in the 17th minute (also a penalty) and the 41st minute.
Bayern Munich, who were without Portuguese defender Raphaël Guerreiro due to injury, managed to minimize the damage thanks to goals from Frenchman Dayot Upamecano (65th minute) and Colombian Luis Díaz (68th minute), a former FC Porto player, allowing them to approach the match against the trophy holders with optimism.
