Match report: Paris Saint-Germain 0-1 Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich put in a dominant display at Le Parc des Princes to beat Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 in the first leg of their Round of 16 UEFA Champions League (UCL) tie.
Paris may be the city of love, but this Valentine’s Day meeting reignited a familiar feud, as two of Europe’s giants met in the UCL knockout stages for the sixth time since 2017.
Bayern imposed themselves in the early stages, although nobody was on hand to finish when João Cancelo and Kingsley Coman delivered inviting crosses into the box.
And when Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting finally got himself in at the back post on the half-hour mark, Nuno Mendes did brilliantly to match the Cameroonian and deflect the ball wide.
Sergio Ramos was proving to be the main man for PSG, impressively preventing Jamal Musiala from reaching Pavard’s through ball and heading away various crosses.
One of those headers fell to Joshua Kimmich, whose clean strike from the edge of the box was expertly held by Gianluigi Donnarumma.
But PSG’s hopes of a precious clean sheet were soon dashed, and Bayern’s opener finally came after the hour mark, when substitute Alphonso Davies delivered a pinpoint cross for Coman.
With the savagery of a scorned ex-lover, he capitalised on a complete lack of awareness from PSG’s defence, opening the scoring against his former side with his fourth goal in three games across all competitions.
Christophe Galtier swiftly turned to Kylian Mbappé, but when he broke behind despite being visibly uncomfortable, the Parisian talisman was denied by Yann Sommer, Neymar’s follow-ups were blocked, and Mbappé was caught offside when he put the ball in the net.
Moments after Thomas Müller squandered an opportunity, Mbappé’s celebrations were cut short yet again, when Mendes was flagged marginally offside before teeing him up.
PSG were tearing forward now, with Messi being denied by Pavard’s block and Vitinha firing straight at Sommer.
Pavard had been superb throughout most of the match, but picked up a second yellow card late on for a sliding tackle on Messi.
Even so, Bayern held onto their advantage ahead of the second leg at the Allianz Arena, and they remain unbeaten away from home at this UCL stage in over a decade.
Meanwhile, PSG have now lost five matches in 2023 – more than they did in 2022’s entirety.
