The Champions League is finally back! And right on Valentine’s Day, Bayern’s fiercest showdown with PSG awaits

After the winter hibernation, the Champions League is finally back. Tomorrow, on 14 February, the knockout stage of the best football competition in the world will begin, with Real Madrid defending their title. On the first day of play, we can look forward to the most anticipated duel between Bayern Munich and PSG.

The eight-final draw brings together two giants. The German side has earned respect with its history, with six titles it is the third most successful team in the Champions League, the Parisians are trying to win the admiration of Europe with money and expensive purchases, as far as history is concerned, they can only throw in one final.

For the moment, however, only the present will matter and there it is extremely even. While PSG rely on the individual quality of stars Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé, Bayern work more as a team and operate more like a machine.

We are no stranger to this Paris-Munich duel in recent years. In the 2019/20 Champions League final, Bayern won 1-0 and took away PSG’s only chance to win the Eared Cup so far.

A year later, the two teams already met in the quarter-finals and the French side returned the defeat to the defending champions, winning 3: 2 away, although they lost 0: 1 at home, but at that time the rule of scoring goals on the opponents’ pitches still applied.

And what about the current form? Bayern got back on track after the initial stumble in January (three draws in a row) and won the next three games. Fresh signing João Cancelo has helped, as he has netted two goals in the first two games.

PSG, on the other hand, are not doing well at all. It goes into the semi-finals with two defeats in a row, first falling to Marseille in the Coupe de France and then to Monaco 1:3.

However, the injuries to Messi and Mbappé are an even bigger problem. Both stars did not play in Saturday’s game and their start in Tuesday’s game against Bayern is in jeopardy.

Bayern will play their first away game (Parc des Princes, 14 February) thanks to the group win, and will play the return leg at home at the Allianz Arena on 8 March.

Source: UEFA, Bayern