On Tuesday evening (kick-off 21:00 CET), FC Bayern visit Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16. The meeting of the two European heavyweights is a fixture with history and one that's keenly anticipated. Read the facts and figures on the match to find out how the German record champions' chances look in the French capital.
1. Even contest
Bayern and PSG have met 11 times before, always in the Champions League. The French side are just in front with six wins to five, but the aggregate score is equal at 15-15. The Bavarians are keen to improve that record, as they did in the teams' last encounter in April 2021, when FCB won at Parc des Princes for the first time. PSG had won all of the previous four home games.
2. Bayern a Champions League powerhouse
This is what winners look like! Since the start of the 2019/20 campaign, Bayern have won 32 of their 37 games in Europe's premier club competition, by far the highest win percentage (86%) of any team in this period. Since the beginning of their treble-winning season, the Munich men have also registered the most wins of all teams (32) and the fewest defeats (two).
3. Only Bayern have stopped Parisian attacking force
In PSG's last 32 home games in the Champions League, they've only failed to score once (average of 2.6 goals per game) – in the aforementioned 1-0 reverse to Bayern in the quarter-final second leg in 2020/21.
4. Choupo's impressive stats
In his five most recent starts for Bayern in the Champions League, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting has always scored at least one goal. The Cameroon international has also found the net in his two previous encounters with PSG. Another goal could well be on the cards on Tuesday, as Choupo-Moting already has three to his name in the current UCL campaign. Another strike would equal his personal best in the competition of four goals in the 2020/21 season.
Choupo-Moting's last Champions League goal was also the FC Bayern November Goal of the Month:
5. Joshua Kimmich, winning mentality personified
After serving a suspension against Bochum on Saturday, Joshua Kimmich will be back in Paris – and that's hugely important for Bayern. The 28-year-old has won 50 of his 66 games for the club in the Champions League (76%). No other player with at least 50 appearances in the competition has been on the winning side in three quarters of their games.
6. Will there be a battle of the top scorers?
PSG's Kylian Mbappé is an injury doubt for Tuesday, meaning the French capital club would be without their main source of goals in recent times. The 24-year-old forward has been directly involved in 20 goals in this competition in the last two seasons, a figure only bettered by ex-Bayern man Robert Lewandowski (21). FCB's main main in this area has been Leroy Sané, who's not far behind with 10 goals and seven assists.
7. Meeting of two round of 16 regulars
PSG have reached the last 16 of the Champions League for the 11th year running – second only to Real Madrid and Bayern. The last time the German record champions didn't get this far was in the 2007/08 campaign, when they took part in the UEFA Cup (Real have in fact qualified for the round of 16 every time since the round was introduced in 2003/04). But while the French champions have exited at this stage on four of the last six occassions, the Munich men have only failed to progress to the quarter-finals in one of their last 10 appearances in this round (2018/19).
We've examined the opposition more closely:
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