🎵 FINAL, HERE WE COME! FC Bayern beat Olympique Lyonnais 3-0, advancing to the Champions League final. The five-time European champions will fight for the trophy (European Cup and Champions League) for the 11th time. On Sunday Bayern cross paths with Paris Saint-Germain, who will contest their first final. fcbayern.com has rounded up everything you need to know about our upcoming opponents.
Patchy record against Paris
The two sides have faced off on eight occasions, all of them Champions League encounters, and Munich’s record could do with a bit of a shine. FCB have only won three of the matches, leaving the pitch as losers five times. However, the Bavarians won their most recent encounter, a 3-1 group stage victory at the Allianz Arena in December 2017.
On the way to their 2001 title, Bayern also had to deal with PSG. In the group stage, the team from the French capital, then with Jay-Jay Okocha and Nicolas Anelka in the team, won 1-0 at home to Bayern on Matchday 3. In the return match at the Olympiastadion, however, the Bavarians earned an important 2-0 win. Current board member Hasan Salihamidžić (3') and Paulo Sérgio (89') scored for Ottmar Hitzfeld's team. Bayern (11 points) won the group just ahead of PSG (10), and soon went on to claim the trophy.
Title-rich season for PSG
PSG, just like Bayern, have the chance to end the season with the treble. In Ligue 1, head coach Thomas Tuchel's side won the title with a 12-point lead over Olympique Marseille – even though PSG finished the season having played one game less. It was their seventh league title in the past eight years (AS Monaco being the only other winners in 2016/17 season), and their ninth title overall. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Ligue 1 was ended early in March, which meant that the French team did not play a competitive match again until the end of July. After that though, they won both the Coupe de France and the Coupe de la Ligue. In addition, the team celebrated winning the French Super Cup at the start of the season. In light of this, the team from the French capital have so far won every competition they've competed in this season.
Knocked out two German teams
PSG won their group in the first round of the Champions League ahead of Real Madrid and won all their matches except a 2-2 draw in Madrid on the penultimate matchday. PSG then eliminated Borussia Dortmund in the last 16. After a 2-1 away defeat, they earned a well-deserved 2-0 victory at Parc des Princes to overturn the tie. In the finals tournament opener in Lisbon, the Frenchmen defeated Atalanta Bergamo 2-1 in a dramatic encounter, in which Tuchel's team were trailing 1-0 up until the 90th minute before Marquinhos (90) and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (90'+3) turned the game around. As a result, PSG reached the semi-finals for the second time since 1994/95, beating RB Leipzig 3-0 and reaching the final of Europe's elite competition for the first time in the club's history. Bayern are now their third German opponents in this season's competition.
Coman and Nianzou's youth club
For Kingsley Coman this final will be a very special game. The FCB winger joined Paris Saint-Germain's academy in 2004 at the age of eight. In February 2013 he made his professional debut in Ligue 1 under Carlo Ancelotti. In 2014 the Frenchman moved to Juventus before joining the German record champions a year later. Like Coman, Tanguy Nianzou comes from PSG's production line, but the summer signing is not yet eligible to play.
Reunion with Bernat
Bayern will come up against a familiar face on the opposing side in Juan Bernat. The 27-year-old defender wore the FCB jersey from 2014 to 2018 and won four league titles with Bayern as well as one DFB Cup. Two years ago, the Spaniard moved from the Isar to the Seine and is now a key member of Thomas Tuchel's team.
Neymar and Mbappé – the most expensive players in the world
Alongside Bernat, Tuchel and PSG have some players who already know FCB from the Bundesliga in Choupo-Moting and Germany internationals Julian Draxler and Thilo Kehrer. All in all, the Parisian squad is packed with stars, above all of course Neymar and Kilian Mbappé – with 30 goals, the top scorers this season. The two most expensive players in the world form the centre of an extremely dangerous attack, which also includes Ángel di Maria and Mauro Icardi. However, it would be wrong to limit PSG to just their attacking prowess, as the Parisians have also been the best defensively in the current UCL season, having conceded just five goals. Keylor Navas, who has won the Champions League three times with Real Madrid, is their keeper, with Brazilians Thiago Silva and Marquinhos in front of him. Marquinhos, for example, scored twice in his last two games, so it's clear that PSG are a difficult side to figure out.
Here you can find out all about FC Bayern's incredible Champions League season:
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