For the neutrals, it was quite the occasion to witness Paris Saint-Germain’s 5-4 win over Bayern Munich in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals, but an emotional rollercoaster for fans of either club.
It was 3-2 to the Parisians at the halftime break as the Ligue 1 giants responded incredibly well to Harry Kane’s 17th minute penalty conversion with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s goal and João Neves’ header before a drama packed five minutes or so before the break. Michael Olise’s brilliant solo
effort was cancelled out by Ousmane Dembélé‘s penalty conversion that was controversially awarded for Alphonso Davies’ ruled to have handled the ball in Bayern’s box after an unlucky deflection from his thigh.
In the second half Bayern had to fight back from both Kvaratskhelia and Dembélé scoring again to make it 5-2, but a header from Dayot Upamecano and sensational solo effort from Luis Díaz made it 5-4 and put Bayern in the ascendency for the remainder of proceedings.
The spirited second half fightback from Bayern very much keeps them in with a chance of overturning the 5-4 aggregate, but there’s no denying the quality that was on display for PSG. Dembélé was officially given the player of the match award by UEFA for his brace and assist in the winning effort for Luis Enrique’s side. The 2025 Ballon d’Or winner could’ve had a hat-trick, too, had he not scuffed his chance early on in the first half when he was through on goal vs. Manuel Neuer but just got his contact all wrong with his right foot as he opened up his hips and tried to put in it the corner of the far post.
Speaking on his player of the match accolade, the UEFA Technical Observer Group said, “Ousmane Dembélé had the most overall impact on the result of this stunning match. He scored twice, provided one assist and was directly involved in a further two,” justifying the Frenchmen getting the nod for POTM (UEFA).
If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…
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