Bayern Munich can upset PSG in today’s C/L showdown
Eight days on from an extraordinary opening encounter in the French capital, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain reunite at the Allianz Arena today in the second leg of their colossal Champions League (C/L) semi-final.
The Bavarians and Parisians played out the highest-scoring UCL semi-final match in history at the Parc des Princes, where PSG held off a late turnaround from today’s hosts to emerge 5-4 winners.
An epic watch for the neutrals and nerve-wracking viewing for fans of either team, the PSG-Bayern pendulum swung back and forth during last week’s record-breaking first leg, in which defensive diligence was not on the agenda for either team.
Les Parisiens’ fearsome front three of Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ran the show during the first hour – amassing seven direct goal involvements between them – but Bayern’s recovery from 2-5 down to 4-5 within the space of four minutes set the stage for an unmissable, and unpredictable, return fixture.
Indeed, of the 10 previous occasions where Bayern have lost the first leg of a European semi-final, they have been eliminated nine times, only coming back to reach the final against CSKA Sofia in the 1981-82 European Cup.
A nine-goal Champions League semi-final does not mean that both teams were bad at defending, in the eyes of current title holder Luis Enrique, who slammed that opinion when reflecting on his side’s narrow, but potentially priceless first-leg victory.
Prevailing by any scoreline in the opening fixture usually means success for Les Parisiens, who have won 36 of their 43 UEFA two-legged ties when triumphing in the first leg, and 14 of their 17 when that victory came by a single goal.
Like their upcoming hosts, PSG also made a plethora of changes for their latest domestic clash – despite not yet wrapping up the Ligue 1 title – and settled for an entertaining stalemate, as Lorient came from behind twice to nab a 2-2 draw in Paris.
The away-day statistics make for extremely joyful reading for the PSG faithful, though, as the reigning European champions have won each of their last six games on the road in all competitions, while keeping clean sheets in each of their last five.
However, PSG shutting out Bayern today would be the shock of all Champions League shocks at the Allianz Arena.
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