Bayern to Champions League quarter-finals

Bayern Munich has qualified for the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the fourth time in a row. The German superpower, with Matthijs de Ligt as an important force, won 2-0 at home against the star ensemble of Paris Saint-Germain. Bayern had already won the first leg in Paris 1-0.

For the Paris Saint-Germain of Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé, it is already the fifth time in the last seven seasons that it is stuck in the eighth finals.

Only in the corona years 2020 and 2021, when the stands were still empty, did PSG reach further: in 2021 it stranded in the semi-finals and in 2020 it even lost the final. The opponent then: Bayern Munich.

Bayern squandered a large lead in the Bundesliga in recent weeks, but managed to win the first leg in Paris 1-0.

PSG – also not having a good season – had to score, but without star player Neymar. The attacker was told on Monday that his season is over due to ankle surgery.

With Mbappé (this season good for 30 goals in 30 matches, including 7 in 7 appearances in the Champions League) and Messi (who played his 150th Champions League game against Bayern), PSG of course still had enough punch left.

Ten years and one day ago, Messi scored five more goals in Barcelona’s 7-1 win over another German side, Bayer Leverkusen. Tonight, however, the Argentinian was unable to break free from his shadow: De Ligt.

The first half in the Allianz Arena was sleep-inducing. Paris Saint-Germain insisted, but hardly had any opportunities. The best was still for Mbappé, but he maneuvered himself into an impossible position and shot the ball into the side netting.

The highlight of the first half was a defensive move by De Ligt in the 38th minute, when Bayern goalkeeper Yann Sommer made a horrific mistake. The Swiss went on an adventure with the ball at his feet, but got stuck on Marco Verratti.

Vitinha then thought to shove the ball into an empty goal, but De Ligt hadn’t counted on that. The Orange international, who has been in his best form in recent weeks since he made the switch to Bavaria, took the ball off the line with an ultimate sliding, much to the relief of his shocked goalkeeper.

Shortly before, PSG had also lost its second Brazilian star. Captain Marquinhos had to leave injured after just over half an hour and was replaced by Nordi Mukiele.

Remarkably enough, Mukiele did not return to the field after the break. In his place came the only 17-year-old (but already 1.97 meters tall) El Chadaille Bitshiabu, who only played seven games in the Paris main squad.

Five minutes after the break, the youngster didn’t make a great impression when a cross from Jamal Musiala was headed into the far corner by Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting. Bitshiabu was wrong, but was lucky that Thomas Müller behind him also made an attempt to hit the ball and was offside.

After more than an hour it was a hit for Choupo-Moting and PSG could blame themselves for that. Bitshiaby played the ball risky into the feet of Verratti, who lost the ball to Müller on the edge of his own box. It was then a breeze for Choupo-Moting to push the ball into the empty goal of his old club: 1-0.

Then Sommer paid for his first-half blunder with a great save on a Sergio Ramos header. Ten minutes before the end, the Spanish defender headed the ball just wide of the post.

But the truth was that PSG had already thrown their heads in the lap after the 1-0. The fact that Alfonso Davies prevented another goal from Mbappé with a tackle à la De Ligt and substitute Serge Gnabry then made it 2-0 after an outbreak, didn’t really matter anymore.

That was especially true for substitute Sadio Mane’s 3-0 in injury time, as that goal was rejected for offside.

Daley Blind and Ryan Gravenberch remained on the bench at Bayern for the entire match.