Victory for the German Champions secures a lucrative treble after securing the league and the domestic cup earlier this year. Despite all the attacking talent on display, one goal was enough to separate the two sides with former PSG man Kingsley Coman heading in the winning goal during the second half. Coman, a French international, guided his header into the bottom corner to add yet another trophy cabinet. The 24-year old has won the league title in every season he is spent as a professional player, starting with PSG’s Ligue 1 victory in 2013.
Meanwhile, its yet more European disappointment (only because they failed to win the whole competition; making the final for the first time in their history is a big achievement, believe me, you many would kill to reach that stage of the Champions League.) for PSG.
The French Champions, who were also bidding for a treble, has become obsessed with winning the champions league since the Qatar Sports investments bought the Parisian club in 2011. More than one billion dollars has been spent on the playing squad but stars such as Neymar and Kylian Mbappe were unable to get their side past a dominant Bayern which is still unbeaten in 2020.
Calling it a cagey final is to understate it; it was a game filled with smart attacking play, and an equally solid defensive play, making it a worthy final. Free-flowing scoring was not part of the act, as Brazilian Neymar was denied the opener by a superb save from Manuel Neuer before Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski hit the post and the header saved during the “otherwise” quality first half. Bayern’s high defensive line, in many ways its greatest strength, also gave encouragement to the lighting fast PSG attackers.
Mbappe and Neymar spent the night on the shoulders of Bayern’s defenders, waiting for the trigger to run in behind, but failed to convert when given the chance. The second half hardly improved in terms of quality with Coman providing the games only piece of decisive attacking play.
Dominant Bayern Munich has enjoyed domestic dominance in Germany- it has now won eight consecutive Bundesliga titles- but success in Europe has been hard to come by since its last champions league triumph in 2013. However, under Hans Flick, Bayern has been on an incredible unbeaten run and was favourite to triumph over PSG’s glittering stars.
With Sunday’s victory, it becomes the first team to win all 11 champions league games from the group stage, scoring 43 goals in those matches. Striker Robert Lewandowski had one of the greatest individual seasons in the history of the competition but failed to get the two goals needed to match Cristiano Ronaldo’s record haul of 17 in a single campaign. That is what we call a luxury flaw.
Memorable Champions League it has certainly been the strangest of them all in the competition’s history. It started over a year ago in June 2019, but the pandemic caused a lengthy postponement and a change to the format of the tournament. The final knockout stages have been held behind closed doors in Lisbon under restricted conditions, with one knockout tie replacing the two-legged affair.
Fortunately, nothing is permanent in life, and after so many days of passing; the culmination of long and arduous roads, meandering through the VAR confusion, drama and reinvention. It all ended. One game. 90 mins. Bayern Munich’s eternal glory. Die Meister. Die Besten. Les grandes equips. The Champions.
MDI|SHUTTERSTOCK
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