Bayern vs. PSG: Positive memories without value
When the Club World Cup quarterfinal between FC Bayern and Paris St. Germain kicks off at noon local time on Saturday in the air-conditioned stadium in Atlanta, the statistics won't be worth much. A look at previous matches is still worthwhile.
Winning goal: Min-Jae Kim heads the 1-0 win against PSG in the Champions League league phase on November 26 of last year. IMAGO/PsnewZ
In 14 matches between six-time trophy winners FC Bayern and current PSG, there has never been a draw. That will be the case on Saturday as well; if necessary, the winner will be decided by a penalty shootout. Munich have won their last four and six of their last seven meetings with the Parisians, a total of eight and six defeats. The goal difference: 19:15 for Bayern.
The Munich team shouldn't draw too many conclusions from their past encounters. Firstly, the squad has changed too much, and secondly, PSG has been playing outstanding football since the beginning of the year. This wasn't the case in their last meeting, Bayern's 1-0 win at the Allianz Arena on November 26 of last year.
Munich deservedly won 1-0 thanks to a header from Min-Jae Kim , and largely dominated the game. Seven or eight players from that team are likely to play on Saturday. Jonathan Tah will replace the long-injured goalscorer Kim, and Josip Stanisic will replace Alphonso Davies, who has a cruciate ligament injury. Michael Olise only came on as a substitute, now playing in place of the substituted Leroy Sané . It remains to be seen whether Leon Goretzka will play alongside Joshua Kimmich, as he did then, or whether Aleksandar Pavlovic will .
Coman and Neuer decide the 2020 finalMuch more important is what has happened at PSG since then, and not just in terms of performance. Gianluigi Donnarumma has reclaimed his place in goal against Matvei Safonov ; he's a strong backup. And: Desiré Doué, one of the Champions League winners' wingers, was only a substitute back then; Khvicha Kvaratskhelia only arrived from Naples in the winter. Saturday's clash, therefore, faces a completely different set of circumstances.
Bayern won their last trophy in 2020 in the final against PSG, coached by Thomas Tuchel . Up front, Kingsley Coman headed the winning goal from a Kimmich cross, while Manuel Neuer made world-class saves from Neymar , among others. In addition to the three players mentioned, Goretzka, Serge Gnabry , and Thomas Müller were also in the winning eleven; Davies, as mentioned, was missing. Bayern had the luck of the draw in this "ghost final" of the coronavirus tournament in Lisbon.
Weah scores at the premiereAnd what else? The Parisians won the first meeting in September 1994 2-0 , with George Weah scoring the 1-0. With the same result and Weah again scoring, they won again two months later at the Olympic Stadium. On September 27, 2017, a 3-0 defeat in Paris cost Bayern coach Carlo Ancelotti his job, partly because he had left out stars like Franck Ribery , Mats Hummels , Arjen Robben , and Jerome Boateng . Kevin Trapp was in goal for Paris.
PSG took revenge for their 2020 tie a year later in the quarterfinals thanks to the away goals rule, which was still in effect at the time. After a 3-2 first-leg win in Munich, the French team could afford a 0-1 home defeat in the second leg, with Bayern unable to compensate for the loss of injured Robert Lewandowski .
However, they came out on top in the 2022/23 round of 16. Coman secured the first-leg victory at the Parc des Princes, followed by a 2-0 victory in Munich under the soon-to-be-sacked Julian Nagelsmann, with goals from Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Gnabry. Paris seemed like a soulless bunch of individualists. Times change so quickly; they're now a perfectly coordinated collective and are certainly favorites heading into their reunion with FC Bayern.
