PSG vs. Bayern: One Champion Takes Down Another Champion

From two teams designed to steal and attack emerged a paradigm-shifting spectacle. PSG triumphed over Bayern with two well-executed goals in a match that showcased the current style of football. One champion toppled another champion. PSG was the favorite, but Bayern stood strong, making them work hard. The match also left a terrible image: Musiala leaving the field on a stretcher with a serious injury to his left ankle after being hit by Donnarumma during a German attack.

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Gianluigi Donnarumma, Nuno Mendes, Marquinhos, Achraf Hakimi, Willian Pacho, Fabián Ruiz (Warren Zaïre-Emery, min. 79), João Neves, Vitinha, Bradley Barcola (Ousmane Dembélé, min. 69), Désiré Doué (Lucas Hernández, min. 79) and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Beraldo, min. 83)

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Manuel Neuer, Dayot Upamecano, Josip Stanisic (Sacha Boey, min. 33), Konrad Laimer, Jonathan Tah, Joshua Kimmich, Jamal Musiala (Serge Gnabry, min. 45), Michael Olise, Aleksandar Pavlovic (Leon Goretzka, min. 79), Kingsley Coman (Thomas Müller, min. 79) and Harry Kane

Goals
1-0 min. 77: Désiré Doué. 2-0 min. 95: Ousmane Dembélé

Referee Anthony Taylor

Yellow cards
Laimer (min. 67), Désiré Doué (min. 75), Kompany (min. 75)

Red cards
William Joel Pacho Tenorio (min. 81), Lucas (min. 91)

From the ambition to win and be the protagonists came a celebrated clinic of the current football paradigm, including PSG’s kick-off to throw-in. The new style has turned the old dogma upside down, with PSG and Bayern being two of its most prominent champions. Now the game is more about stealing the ball than about holding it. Therefore, at times, both teams were compressed within 20 meters. Neuer and Donnarumma were behind the semicircle, while 20 players were like atoms in a box waiting for a reaction to set them free into open field. At PSG’s first steal, it was the first shot. And shooting was abundant in both areas.

With two teams so eager for ball recovery, the one that imposes the pressure is the one that invades the opponent’s field. Bayern was the first, and Kompany and his players earned merit for it because there are not many teams capable of challenging the European champion for ball possession. The sacrifices of Paulovic, wingers Olise and Coman, Upamecano and Tah, the tireless Sabitzer, and even Kane to press or win second balls gave them the first control of the game. Ball management and match control were never monopolized by either team. PSG under Luis Enrique felt uncomfortable against a team that did not allow them to keep the ball. In the new football, one-on-one situations prevail, and the wide spaces generated have revived the individual dribble. Sabitzer and Olise executed this successfully, forcing PSG to do what they dislike most: run backward.

Fabián was the first player of Luis Enrique to guide his team into Neuer’s area. He played two balls into free space and connected with Kvaratskhelia and Barcola. Who said wingers were dead? Who said dribbling cannot be used in delicate areas when it can be a sure danger for the opponent? Upamecano, Vitinha, or Marquinhos did the latter. Olise, Kvaratskhelia, Barcola, Docué, and Coman asserted their resistance to extinction. For the moment, the match was a sequence of dribblers meeting every time one touched the ball. Kvaratskhelia sneaked in on a serpentine diagonal towards Donnarumma’s chin; Coman threatened Hakimi and delivered a well-placed cross to Harry Kane’s head; Barcola broke Bayern’s pressure with a mix of agility and skill; Fabián Ortiz shot over Neuer’s goal after another run that cleared Kvaratskhelia’s defenses. It felt like a rap battle to see who could compose the most unbelievable and daring series of dribbles.

The wingers were in charge, and the crowd showed their appreciation with exclamations of admiration. The multi-faceted Mercedes Benz Stadium was filled with 66,937 fans. This was a match to gauge the interest of local communities in the U.S. in watching two European teams without Real Madrid in the picture. The white club always guarantees a sell-out. The mass attendance was a lesson for FIFA. Football has always grown from the lower classes. Without the price reductions applied due to the concerning ticket sales pace, the majestic Atlanta stadium would not have reached full capacity.

That incredibly attractive and hedonistic first half closed with a goal ruled out for Upamecano due to offside after he connected with a lateral free kick. Bayern went into the locker room not only disheartened by the disallowed goal. Musiala, their most imaginative player, had left with a destroyed ankle.

There was no respite after the break. Both teams kept their chin up, indifferent to conceding goals. Kvaratskhelia set up Barcola in front of Neuer. He wisely held off the crossed shot. Soon after, the veteran German goalkeeper carelessly handled the ball, and Dembélé struck the empty goal against the post just as he stepped off the bench. Doué did not miss from the edge with a damaging shot. The European champion then rose above Bayern, although the entry of Gnabry had also given them life. And even more so after Pacho’s expulsion for a harsh tackle on Goretzka. Later, Lucas also earned a direct red card with an unnecessary elbow to Guerriro.

With nine players, once again, the dribbles were decisive. This time it was Hakimi who dropped a couple of opponents, allowing Dembélé to push the ball in easily and close out a magnificent match.