UCL: Bayern clash with PSG; Preview
Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich have become familiar UEFA Champions League foes as they meet for the fourth time in six seasons in the round of 16 first leg at the Parc des Princes. Catch the action live on SuperSport and Showmax Pro.
Bayern claimed their sixth European Cup at Paris’s expense with victory in Lisbon in August 2020, although the French club gained a measure of revenge the following season by ending the German club’s trophy defence in the last eight.
Bayern became the first club to win all six games in their UEFA Champions League section on three occasions this season as they finished eight points clear in Group C. Paris also remained unbeaten but lost out to Benfica for first place in Group H thanks to a late flurry of goals for the Portuguese side on Matchday 6.
Both teams have plenty of recent knockout experience. Bayern are in the round of 16 for the 15th season running, while Paris have now progressed from the group stage for 11 consecutive campaigns.
Head to head
Paris edged through on away goals in the teams’ 2020/21 quarter-final, doing the damage in the first leg in Munich. Kylian Mbappé struck after just three minutes with Marquinhos doubling the lead before the half-hour and, though former Paris forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (37) and Thomas Müller (60) replied, Mbappé’s second goal of the evening (68) gave the visitors victory.
Choupo-Moting got the only goal of the second leg at the Parc des Princes but the French side held on to go through. That was Bayern’s first away win against Paris, their first four such fixtures having all ended in defeat.
A 59th-minute header from Bayern winger Kingsley Coman – formerly of Paris – proved enough to separate the sides at Lisbon’s Estádio do SL Benfica on 23 August 2020, giving the German club their sixth European Cup and ensuring Paris’s first final appearance ended in defeat.
Overall Paris have the edge with six wins to Bayern’s five. All eight of the teams’ matches before that 2020 final had come in the UEFA Champions League group stage – and all but one of those contests were won by the home side.
In the 2017/18 group stage, Paris were 3-0 winners at the Parc des Princes – Neymar scoring the home side’s final goal – before a 3-1 Bayern success in Munich in which Mbappé scored for Paris.
In the first group stage in 2000/01 – a campaign that culminated in Bayern winning the competition for the fourth time – home substitute Laurent Leroy’s 90th-minute strike gave Paris a 1-0 victory at the Parc des Princes. Again Bayern turned the tables in Munich, goals from Hasan Salihamidžic (3) – now the club’s sporting director – and substitute Paulo Sérgio (89) securing a 2-0 success.
In 1997/98 Bayern ran out 5-1 winners in the first game in Germany, Giovane Elber and Carsten Jancker each scoring twice and Thomas Helmer getting the other with Marco Simone scoring Paris’s consolation. Paris were 3-1 victors in France, their goals coming from Franck Gava (17), Florian Maurice (73) and Leroy (75); Markus Babbel had levelled for Bayern.
The French club came out on top twice in 1994/95, George Weah and Daniel Bravo earning a 2-0 home win and Weah, again, claiming the only goal in Germany – the only away victory either team had managed in this fixture before each did so in 2020/21.
Form Guide
PSG
This is Paris’s 15th UEFA Champions League campaign – one short of Lyon’s French record – and an 11th in succession, also one shy of Lyon’s unbroken run of appearances from 2000/01 to 2011/12. They have now reached the knockout rounds in all of their last 11 seasons in the competition, last failing to progress beyond the group stage in 2004/05.
The French club’s most successful UEFA Champions League campaign came in 2019/20, when they reached the final but lost 1-0 to Bayern in Lisbon.
PSG have lost only six of their last 68 European home games (W44 D18), although four of those have come in their last 18 matches at the Parc des Princes. This season’s four wins have made it nine victories in the Parisians’ last 19 European matches (D5 L5).
PSG’s round of 16 record is W6 L4; last season’s defeat by Real Madrid made it four losses in their last six ties at this stage. The second-leg defeat against Bayern in the quarter-finals two seasons ago was Paris’s first at home to German visitors (W9 D1).
Bayern
Bayern are in the UEFA Champions League proper for the 26th time, one behind joint record holders Real Madrid and Barcelona, and the 15th season in a row.
Bayern have not failed to reach the UEFA Champions League semi-finals three seasons running since 2008/09.
Julian Nagelsmann’s team claimed the Bundesliga title in 2021/22, Bayern’s record-extending tenth successive league championship and 32nd overall.
Bayern’s round of 16 record is W14 L4. The 2018/19 defeat by Liverpool (0-0 a, 1-3 h) is the only one of their last 11 last-16 ties they have failed to win.
The 2020/21 defeat by PSG ended Bayern’s run of seven successive victories against French clubs in knockout ties, a sequence that included three finals. They have won seven of their nine ties against Ligue 1 opponents.
Bayern have won ten of their last 12 games against French clubs, home and away; the exceptions were the 3-0 defeat in Paris in September 2017 and the first-leg loss in the 2020/21 quarter-finals.
Bayern were on a run of three successive away wins in France before losing at Paris in 2017, one of only two defeats in their last ten trips (W6 D2). Their overall record away to Ligue 1 sides is W7 D3 L7.
Bayern may have lost four of their five games against Paris at the Parc des Princes, but they claimed their second European Cup at the stadium, beating Leeds United 2-0 there in the 1975 final.
What the coaches say
Christophe Galtier, Paris coach: “Bayern are a good side, a team that have won everything. Paris have been using two systems and I think we might start using a third in matches against teams of a certain level. I will ask the coaching staff to work on a new option. We need to find the most balanced model that will allow us to get the ball back as quickly as possible.”
Julian Nagelsmann, Bayern coach: “Paris are difficult opponents: we didn’t get any reward for our perfect group stage campaign. Just like us, they have a lot of world-class players, but this is the Champions League, so it’s to be expected that there are no easy opponents in the round of 16.”
