FEATURE | Three things we learned as PSG edge Bayern Munich in nine-goal thriller

Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich saw out a high-octane nine-goal thriller in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final (5-4). We pick out three things that were learned as PSG ensure that they head to Germany next week with a slender but potentially crucial advantage.

Last year’s UCL final was a game of contrast: young versus old, fluid versus constrained, liberated versus conservative. This year’s final will perhaps resemble something similar in essence, with two interpretations of the game – or at least how best to win it – clashing. Atletico Madrid versus Arsenal is expected to be a tighter, cagey affair; both teams could, of course, subvert the narrative around them. But none look capable of putting on the show that PSG and Bayern Munich did at the Parc.

This was the Champions League final back in 2020, and it should have been this year. Instead, this was the final ahead of time between the two best teams in Europe, practicing an exhilarating, breathless form of football full of verve that only they have mastered.

– Tuesday, 28 April 2026

It is the first time in over 30 years that Bayern have conceded five goals in a UCL game and only the second time in their history. It is also the first time that PSG have conceded four at home since 2006. For both sides, those are runs that you don’t want to end, normally synonymous with a nightmare evening.

But this wasn’t the case for either side, even if there was a winner and a loser… or two: PSG and football. More of the same next week, please.

There is a Ballon d’Or winner in the PSG side, as the crowd at the Parc des Princes reminded us as he tucked home his second goal of the game, a dragged shot that flicked off the near post, the high point of Les Parisiens’ evening as they extended their lead to three goals (5-2).

That goal came just moments after Khvicha Kvaratskhelia netted his second of the night. It was the Georgian, just moments after a big Dembélé miss, who levelled the scores early in the first half, and he was well placed to crash in at the back to double his tally in the second.

– Tuesday, 28 April 2026

Prior to that, there was a scare towards the end of the first half when he clutched his hamstring while running for a ball. It was a false alarm, but in that moment, there was a realisation of how big a miss he would be for Luis Enrique’s side. In a side so technically gifted, you can’t speak of reliance. Bradley Barcola and Désiré Doué have already proven their ability to take the baton if it needs to be passed on. But ‘Kvara’ is the man who always turns up on the big occasions. Luis Enrique even joked as much when he said that the Georgian thought it was a UCL game when he netted a brace against FC Nantes last week. He is both Mr Reliable and Mr Incredible, capable of jaw-dropping feats, perhaps not all of the time, but always at the right time.

On a night of intriguing personal duels, one of those with the clearest winner and loser was the one between Michael Olise and Nuno Mendes. The former ran the latter ragged all night. There was space to exploit for the France international, granted, but even when closed down by Mendes, or the much more imposing Willian Pacho, he had a deftness, a slippery liquidity to always pass by, as if unimpeded, as if that was where he was always going to go, regardless of what obstacle was put in front of him.

He could (and should) have netted when played in earlier in the first half but he took his goal, firmly struck right down the middle, excellently. You simply cannot give a player of his talent that space. 49 goal contributions in 47 games in all competitions for Olise in his debut season at Bayern Munich – elite numbers for an elite player.

There wasn’t really any doubt, but playing in front of a French crowd, in France, he has surely, on one of the biggest stages, ensured that he is in Les Bleus’ best XI at this summer’s FIFA World Cup. Before that, he will set his mind to knocking out France’s biggest club, PSG .

GFFN | Luke Entwistle