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The winners accept their medals, all hugs and high fives. Then Neuer steps towards the trophy. No chance of him dropping it! He hoists it high to the sky and his teammates bounce and sing as confetti explodes around them. The stadium is practically empty but their joy is unconfined. Now they’ll be straight on to their phones to read David Hytner’s match report:
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The suits are out in force to make the trophy presentation. But first they’ve to had the consolation medals to the runners-up. They get clapped on to the podium by their conquerors. They look deeply peeved - perhaps they will drink in this pain and use it to come back stronger?
Coman the Destroyer
Bayern players exult, hugging each other and slapping backs all over the pitch. PSG players stare forlorn into the distance. They had their chances in the first half, when Neymar and Mbappe failed to find sharp finishes. And then they were undone by a Frenchman who used to be in their academy, as the excellent Coman headed home from a cross by Kimmich.
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Full-time: PSG 0-1 Bayern
Bayern Munich are European champions for the sixth time, equalling the haul of Liverpool! PSG are this season’s Tottenham Hotspur.
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90+4 min: Bayern have freekick to the right of the PSG box. They take it short and Coutinho tries to shield the ball to waste time.... but he coughs it up easily and suddenly PSG are streaking free down the other end. Neymar curls in a delicious cross from the left .... and Davies puts on enough pressure to prevent from Choupo-Moting from getting on the end of it!
90+2 min: At least three minutes left in time added on...
90+1 min: Action stations! Lewandowski is denied by a crucial table at one by Kehrer; then PSG hurtle down the other end and trigger panic in the Bayern box. But Neymar can’t profit and Bayern survive!
89 min: Choupo-Moting’s scuffed shot from the edge of the area runs through to Mbappé, who has a free shot at goal from 10 yards. Neuer rushes out and makes a fabulous save with his feet! As it transpires, it wouldn’t have mattered because Mbappé was offside but it’s worth stressing how good Neuer has been today, all the same.
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88 min: Mbappé looks disconsolate after a teammate fails to pick him out when a counter-attack looked on. PSG are looking like a beaten team. Has no one told them about the 1999 final?
86 min: Bayern sub: Tolisso on, Thiago off. Just before that, Kurzawa got booked for wiping out Kimmich.
85 min: Bayern had fewer days off than PSG coming into this game but there’s no sign of the tiring. They continue to hunt down the ball whenever PSG try to piece together a move.
84 min: Coutinho curls the freekick over the wall and a couple of yards wide.
83 min: No argument about that freekick: Silva is booked for tripping Lewandowski after the striker skipped past him. Bayern have a freekick about 28.1 yards out, quite central.
82 min: PSG are getting increasingly vexed. Bayern are going down at every opportunity and the ref isn’t slow to whistle.
81 min: Neymar, frustrated, chops down Lewandowski on half-way. The Bayern bench jump up as if they’ve witnessed a heinous crime. Yellow card.
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79 min: PSG subs: Choupo-Moting and Kurzawa on, Di Maria and Bernat off.
78 min: Bayern’s subs have not made them stronger. In fact, PSG, especially Kehrer, are probably grateful they took off Coman.
77 min: Neymar feeds Verratti. Verratti tries to pick out a pass to Mbappé near the penalty spot. But he overhits it, allowing Davies to nod the ball back to Neuer.
74 min: A reply shows that Kimmich did not poke the ball off Mbappé’s foot a moment ago: he poked Mbappé’s foot. The could have been a penalty. No one appealed and VAR didn’t even bother having a look.
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73 min: Sumptuous pass by Neymar or Mbappee to chase. He gets to it and then twists his way into the area. But Kimmich, straining heroically, pokes the ball off his feet.
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72 min: PSG sub: Draxler on, Herrera off.
72 min: Neymar’s corner sparks chaos in the Bayern box. Süle clears and then cops a kick from Marquinhos. Free out.
70 min: Davies fails to cut out a pass to Di Maria, who takes his time to choose the right option and then slides a lovely pass through to Marquinhos. The defender runs on to it at the near post and takes a big swinging shot, without getting the contact he wanted. Neuer is able to scramble it behind with his feet.
69 min: Bayern subs: Coutinho and Perisic on, Gnabry and Coman off. Gnabry had a quiet game compared to recent outings but Coman was brilliant.
68 min: There’s a swagger to Bayern’s play now. They’ve found their groove and PSG are starting to flag, with their fullbacks looking particularly dishevelled.
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66 min: Alaba thunders a shot way over from 25 yards.
65 min: PSG sub: Verratti on, Paredes on. Can the Italian bring the stimulus PSG need? “There’s a tattoo parlour in Wellington, NZ, whose shopfront proudly displays the word ‘TATOO’,” reports Martin Burley. “That does not exactly instil would-be customers with confidence...”
63 min: Just like Kimmich for the goal, Müller floats over a cross from the right. Kehrer is caught unawares again, and Coman tries to punish him again, this time meting the delivery with his in-step. But Kimpembe clears near his own line!
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60 min: So PSG, so dominant in their own league, are now trailing because of a goal by a Frenchman. There’s a little irony in that. Meanwhile, Kimpembe has just made a superb diving header to prevent Bayern from doubling their lead!
GOAL! PSG 0-1 Bayern (Coman 59)
Coman always looked the most likely to make the break through for Bayern, but not like that! Joshua served up a dainty cross from the right to the edge of the six-yard box. Coman, barely needing to jump, kept his eye on it and guided a downward header into the the far corner!
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59 min: PSG are defending deep now and with great discipline. Bayern look short of ideas, while PSG are just waiting for an opportunity to counter...
57 min: You know what this game needs? Or rather, who this game needs? Verratti. There’s been a dearth of midfield ingenuity and he has plenty, if he’s fit enough. And just as I type that, Bayern send Coutinho to warm up....
56 min: Süle booked for clumping into Di Maria late from behind.
55 min: PSG maintain such a shape that Bayern are forced to start passing backwards.
53 min: Goretzka’s shot from 25 takes a big deflection and loops into Navas’ arms.
51 min: Aggro! Gnabry is booked for a clipping Neymar late near the touchline. The Brazilian screams in pain and several players come together to exchange angry shoves and angry shapes. Paredes gets himself a booking for excessive posturing. “That half-time comment from Gary Naylor...” begins Bobby Moore. “... is the closest Everton will ever get to a Champions League final.”
48 min: Coman stabs a ball from the corner of the box towards the near post. Silva puts it out for a corner. Bayern waste it.
47 min: PSG use their first possession of the half to work the ball wide to Mbappé. Müller gets back to help out Kimmich. They ignore the lollipops proffered by the forward and step in to take away his ball.
46 min: Bayern get the second half going. Neither manager mad any personnel changes during the break.
“Both sides remind me of Everton this season - and that’s not a good thing,” drals Gary Naylor. “There’s goals in them, but such is the paucity of imagination with the final ball that it might never happen.”
“I’m no fan of Neymar, but credit where it was due: with so much of PSG’s press coming from the front, he is tasked with an absurd amount of ground to cover,” analysis Matthew Richman. “A few minutes ago he was chasing the ball with no support as three Bayern players passed it around rondo style. At no point did he drop his pace. The immediate comparison I thought of was Cristiano Ronaldo, who I remember turning to berate his teammates as Barcelona tiki-takaed around him. That is an excellent work ethic.” He has been wonderful in this tournament since it resumed. All that has been missing from him has been a goal. No better time to put that right ...
Half-time: PSG 0-0 Bayern
It’s been a tad bitty and nervy but there have been quite a few chances nonetheless: Mbappé should have scored just before the break; Neymar could have done so earlier on; Lewandowski hit the post; and Coman seems to be explaining to the ref as they leave the pitch why he thought he should have had a penalty.
45+1 min: Coman drives past Kehrer and into the box ... and then falls as the defender leans a little into him. Penalty? The ref thinks about for a moment and then rules that there was no foul!
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45 min: What a chance! A blunder at the back by Bayern gifts the ball to Mbappé, who exchanges quick passes with Di Maria and then finds himself with the ball at his feet eight yards from goal. And he shoots a gentle shot straight at the Neuer!
45 min: Kimpembe is caught trying to play out of his box, but gets away with it when Muller gives away a senseless. “You didn’t really invite MBMers to submit ideas about job-related tattoos, did you?” stammers Mike Wilner. “You must have a lot of trust in Guardian readers. Either that or there won’t be many submissions from physicians, sewerage workers, etc.” Come on, Mike, are you really telling me you haven’t noticed that we operate strict quality control filters here? Oh.
43 min: Lovely work by Neymar and Di Maria as PSG threaten for the first time in a while. But Süle breaks it up and suddenly Bayern are attacking at the other end, until Marquinhos disrupts their groove.
42 min: A gorgeous cross from the left by Davies. Bernat leaps high to stop Lewandowski from getting a clean header on it.
40 min: Kimmich’s corner headed clear by Kimpembe. See how many times you can say that very fast. “My trade-inspired body art would be a tattoo of a spread sheet on my forehead,” blurts Utkarsh Sharma, a trend setter if ever there was one.
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37 min: Marquinhos escapes a yellow card despite hauling down Lewandowski after over-running the ball. Can Bayern punish him from the freekick instead? IT’s too far for a shot but a good chance to drop the ball around the penalty area. No! Because Marquinhos redeems himself by heading it away.
35 min: More nifty work by Coman. This time his inviting cross is allowed to run all the way through to Navas, who claims it. Then exhales. Meanwhile, the camera has just panned to one of the Bayern subs (didn’t notice which one), who has a tattoo of a football on his leg. That’s the equivalent of me having a tattoo of a laptop on my ... lap. How about you, what would your trade-inspired body art be?
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33 min: Coman is a growing threat. He nutmegs Kehrer and pings in a wicked cross that Silva does well to head away.
31 min: A cool challenge in the box by Kehrer, who kept his eye on the ball as Coman tried to dance past him. But Bayern recycle possession and work it out to the right, from where a dangerous cross come in from Kimmich. It takes a nick off Kimpembe but Lewandowsk adjusts quickly, arcing back to direct a header on target rom six yards. Navas reacts just as sharply to bat it away!
29 min: Neymar’s freekick is headed out of the box. Herrera’s lashes it back towards goal but it deflects wide.
28 min: Davies booked for pulling down Kehrer near the touchline after misjudging a bounce. PSG have a frekick in a promising crossing position...
25 min: Bayern substitution: Süle on, Boateng off. The change is enforced by an injury to Boateng, who seems to have suffered a recurrence of a knee problem.
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24 min: Neymar leads a vicious counter-attack, combing with Mbappé before raiding through the middle and feeding Herrera, who plays a canny little pass through to Di Maria. The Argentine’s shot flies over the bar from 16 yards.
22 min: Davies races down the left and delivers and clever low cross. It’s slightly behind Lewandowski, who takes it and then swivels and gets off a bobby shot that beat Navas ... and bounces out off the post!
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22 min: After Bayern dominated the first 10 minutes, PSG have come back strong and looked the more menacing. Mbappé is a particular problem for Bayern.
20 min: Gnabry fizzes a dangerous pass through to Kimmich but it’s a tiny bit too heavy, and Kimmich can’t get to it before it runs out of play.
18 min: PSG attack down the left again. Mbappé slips a pass through to Neymar, who bangs off a low shot on the run from 10 yards. Neuer saves and is grateful to see a teammate hook the rebound out for a corner!
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17 min: Coman overhits a simple pass, which is a real let-off for PSG, as Davies was ready to motor into the PSG box if the pass had been well measured.
16 min: Another cute pass by Paredes finds Mbappé at the left-hand corner of the area. He opens up his body and tries to curl a low shot into the far corner, but Kimmich blocks.
15 min: Paredes sends Mbappé running down the left. He’s held up by Kimmich, but Bernat arrives in support. Together they work a shooting chance, but Goretzke does well to block Mbappé’s drive from 16 yards.
13 min: Herrera is caught dawdling in midfield as PSG are surprised again by the ferocity of Bayern’s pressing: it’s all very well watching videos but the real life action is something PSG’s midfielders need to adapt to quickly.
11 min: Kehrer bursts down the right and whacks over a decent cross, which Boateng puts out for a corner. PSG take it short, then Neymar floats the ball to the back post. But it’s cleared.
10 min: Di Maria drops the freekick at the back post, where Davies heads it clear.
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9 min: Groetzke gives the ball away in his own half. Mbappé pounces on it and is then fouled by Thiago, giving PSG a useful freekick about 30 yards out and to the left...
7 min: It’s all Bayern. But PSG are keeping their shape and working hard to deny any openings.
5 min: It’s been a scrappy enough opening but Bayern’s aggressive intent is clear. They’re squeezing most of the play deep into PSG’s half. Then Thiago fires off the game’s first shot, slashing way wide from 25 yards. “Another song for PSG is Mano Negra’s Paris la nuit or Ronde de nuit depending whether you want ennui or energy,” croons Robin Hazlehurst. “The lyrics are the same in either case: ‘Paris is dying today having given itself to a bandit who has stolen its party nights’.”
3 min: Freekick to Bayern wide on the left. Kimmich delivers an in-swinger with his right foot. Silva nuts it to safety.
2 min: PSG fold under Bayern pressing, as Gnabry pounces on a sloppy pass. But they’re let off when Groetzke concedes a foul.
1 min: PSG kick off. The 2020 Champions League final is go! PSG hit the ball out of play within 10 seconds, an unforced error. A sign of nerves, perhaps?
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The teams enter the arena to near total silence. Then the Champions League jingle starts up. And when that concludes, there’s some raucous shouting and chanting from ... I don’t know where: have fans gathered outside the ground? Or have the broadcasters added a beery tone to their canned noise?
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The teams are in the tunnel. I’m no poker genius, but my reading of the body language is that Bayern look very chilled while PSG seem a trifle tense. Experience telling already?
These two teams have a lot to live up to, remember. This was the first European Cup final staged in Lisbon:
“How about MC Solaar’s hip hop classic Nouveau Western for Parisian goal celebrations,” djaays Kari Tulinius. “It neatly ties together the PSG story, since it’s based on an older Parisian classic, Gainsbourg’s Bonnie and Clyde, is made by an artist who grew up in the banlieus, and harks back to the last glory days of PSG, the 90s.”
“t was 25 years ago tomorrow that I attended my first professional football game between PSG and Le Havre,” begins Ted Lee. “I was looking forward to a much more energetic and impassioned crowd that I usually find at U.S. sporting events. Nonetheless, I was surprised to find myself sitting in a section of very nervous, middle-aged, chain-smokers who didn’t seem to be enjoying themselves at all. My friend, who had an inkling about this, pulled out a book in the middle of the match. Since then, with one small exception, the height of international accomplishment was winning the Intertoto Cup. At least we can enjoy this moment before the blootering we’re about the receive.” Surprised to hear that, Ted. In 1995 PSG were a proper, genuinely thrilling team, with players such as Lama, Rai, Valdo, Ginola, Weah...
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By the way, if anyone is tuning into this from Marseille, do please let us know if you can see anyone wearing a PSG shirt when you look out the window. Local officials banned them for fear they would provoke disorder, but I believe they backtracked on that?
“There’s some serious quality on the bench there for both teams, Paul,” yelps Anish Gomatam. My combined PSG Bayern “bench XI” would be: Sergio Rico; Benjamin Pavard, Niklas Süle, Javi Martinez, Lucas Hernandez; Idrissa Gueye, Marco Verrati, Julian Draxler; Philippe Coutinho, Ivan Perisic, Mauro Icardi.”
Not bad, but your bench team would be trounced by my team of players watching from their sofas: Allison; Van Dijk, Egan, Ramos; Doherty, De Bruyne, Pogba, Stevens; Messi, Ronaldo, Mané
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“Major Tom is a classic,” agrees peter Oh. “But I will be dad-dancing and kicking my legs in the air to this tune if (when) Bayern score. I believe it’s the club’s official goal tune this season.”
“The link you sent to Ella was prefaced with a YouTube advert for baby milk, punctuated with a baby loudly screaming,” notes someone calling himself Leonard Cohen. “That should illustrate the general mood of the fans for PSG’s goals.”
“Ella Fitzgerald (class, integrity, dignity) doesn’t deserve PSG,” objects Charles Antaki. “How about this instead for them?” Oh la laaaaaaaaaarggh...
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The first goal...
These big finals often turn out to be anti-climatic spectacles, last season’s being a prime example, but theres better than average chance that this one will be a goalfest. For the sake of intrigue, it would be particularly interesting if PSG scored the first one. They have experience of coming from behind in this tournament - they overturned a first-leg deficit against Dortmund earlier in the knockout stages and left it until the last minutes to fight back against Atalanta - but Bayern, on the other hand, have barely had any reason to doubt so far. How would they react if PSG took a lead here, especially given the knowledge that the more they push, the more they’d leave themselves open to a speedy counter?
Tom Knight writes in to recommend this to accompany celebrations of each Bayern goal.
Goalscoring celebrations
Here’s a game anyone reading this coverage from home can join in and play. That includes you, Lionel and Cristiano! Every time PSG score, jump to your feet and sing this. Feel free to suggest alternatives, and also to recommend a tune for if Bayern score. Because I’m struggling to come up with anything better than this (which, yes, would also make for a wonderful ring tone):
TEAMS
Navas returns for PSG; Coman gets the nod on the left-hand side of Bayern’s attack. Verratti is not ready to play 90 minutes, which is a big blow to PSG.
PSG: Navas; Kehrer, Thiago Silva, Kimpembe, Bernat; Herrera, Marquinhos, Paredes; Di Maria, Neymar, Mbappé
Subs: Rico, Bulka, Kurzawa, Diallo, Dagba, Draxler, Verrati, Sarabia, Choupo-Moting, Icardi
Bayern: Neuer;Kimmich, Boateng, Alaba, Davies; Thiago, Goretzka; Gnabry, Müller, Coman; Lewandowski
Subs: Ulreich, Hoffman, Odriozola, Süle, Pavard, Martinez, Coutinho, Cuisance, Perisic, Hernandez, Tolisso, Zirkzee
Referee: D Orsato (Italy)
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Awaiting the team sheets ...
PSG’s first-choice goalkeeper, Keylor Navas, has regained his fitness so seems certain to take his place back from Sergio Rico, who kept a clean sheet in the semi-final. Classy midfielder Marco Verratti is also fit after recovering from the calf injury that kept him out for the last month: he’s terrific player but will Tuchel throw him straight back into action in a match of this magnitude, against opponents as daunting as this? Unlikely. And how about Idrissa Gueye, who is also fit again after missing the semi?
And what about Benjamin Pavard on the Bayern side? Is the World Cup winner fit enough to regain his place at right-back and allow Joshua Kimmich to shift into midfield? If he is, should Bayern even do that? And will Kingsley Coman displace Ivan Perisic on the left side of their attack? All will be revealed soon.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the 65th final of the European Cup/Champions League. Bayern Munich have been here 10 times before – winning five, losing five – but for Paris Saint-Germain this is a first. The question is: will they be crowned kings or are they just this season’s Tottenham Hotspur?
Finding out the answer promises to be fun. This has the makings of a thriller, at least until you consider the involvement of the foul Qatari regime. In purely football terms, good cases can be made for both sides. The final pits the best attack in the tournament so far (Bayern) against the tightest defence (PSG) but that is a slightly misleading statistic, since PSG are a very offensive side is so many ways.
If Bayern leave themselves as open to the counter-attack as they did in the semi-final, then we can expect Kylian Mbappé, Neymar and Angel Di Maria to make them pay. And if Bayern tire towards the end – they’ve had a day less rest than PSG, remember -, then Kylian Mbappé, Neymar and Angel Di Maria could make them pay. Those players have also grown more diligent without the ball under Thomas Tuchel, so PSG have a unity and spirit that they previously lacked.
But if Bayern play with the relentless collective awesomeness that they usually do, then they could rack up another big score: they’ve averaged more than four goals per match so far, with Robert Lewandowski practically guaranteed to hit the net at least once.
No two teams have ever come into the final in better form: Bayern have won every match in the tournament so far and haven’t lost in any competition since before last Christmas; PSG, meanwhile, collected three domestic trophies before sashaying into this final by dispatching relatively modest outfits (though Bayern couldn’t beat RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga this season). This should be the biggest test either side has faced so far. Something’s got to give. Humdinger ahoy!
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