Bayern Munich wins UEFA Champions League

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Bayern won the first ever Champions League final against PSG.

Kingsley Coman of Bayern scored the winning goal.

The victory means that the cup was won 6 times by Bayern Munich.

This was the ninth encounter between the two teams in the Champions League – all of the previous eight were in the group stages with PSG heading their head – to – head with five wins for Bayern’s three.

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Update

Bayern Munich are in the lead after Kingsley Conan scores the opening and only goal.

Half time

Bayern had more of the ball, but both have had chances to open the scoring only to be denied by goalkeepers on alert.

The match in pictures

Match Facts

Paris Saint-Germain are seeking their first European Cup as they take on five-time winners Bayern München in the UEFA Champions League final in Lisbon.

The reigning champions of France and Germany have both been in imperious form in the 2019/20 competition. While Paris have won eight of their ten fixtures, suffering only one defeat and conceding just five goals, Bayern have been victorious in all ten matches, scoring 42 goals in the process – only three short of the competition record.

This is the third European Cup final to be held in Lisbon. Celtic beat Internazionale 2-1 at the Estádio Nacional in the 1967 decider, while the Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica was the venue for Real Madrid’s 4-1 extra-time defeat of neighbours Atlético de Madrid in 2014. The 2020 final will make the ground the seventh stadium to stage the UEFA Champions League decider twice.

This is only the second European Cup final between clubs from France and Germany, following Bayern’s 1-0 win against St-Étienne in the 1976 final in Glasgow. In addition, German clubs have triumphed in the other two European finals against Ligue 1 sides, Bayern beating Bordeaux in the 1996 UEFA Cup final and Werder Bremen getting the better of Monaco in the 1992 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup.

Paris are the 41st club to reach the European Cup final, and the second newcomers in successive seasons after Tottenham Hotspur in 2019. The French side are the 20th team to reach the UEFA Champions League final.

Paris could become the 23rd side to win the European Cup, and the first new name on the trophy since Chelsea’s 2012 triumph.

Only one French side has ever won the trophy, Marseille beating AC Milan in 1993. Reims (1956, 1959), St-Étienne (1976), Marseille (1991) and Monaco (2004) were all beaten finalists.

Ángel Di Maria (Real Madrid 2014) and Neymar (Barcelona 2015) could both join the list of 14 players to have won the UEFA Champions League with more than one club.

Having scored for Barcelona in their 3-1 win against Juventus in Berlin in the 2015 decider, Neymar could join a list of seven players to have scored in more than one UEFA Champions League final and become only the third, after Cristiano Ronaldo and Mario Mandžukić, to do so for more than one club.

Di María was Man of the Match in the 2014 final; no player has ever won the award twice.

This is Paris‘s fourth final in a major UEFA competition:

1996 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup W 1-0 v Rapid Wien

1996 UEFA Super Cup L 2-9 agg v Juventus (1-6 h, 1-3 a)

1997 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup L 0-1 v Barcelona

Bayern

Bayern are seeking to join Liverpool on six European Cup wins and become the joint-third most successful club in the competition’s history behind Real Madrid (13 titles) and AC Milan (seven).

This is Bayern’s 11th European Cup final, moving them level with AC Milan; only Real Madrid (16) have played more.

Bayern’s record in European Cup finals:

1974: 4-0 v Atlético de Madrid, Brussels (replay after 1-1 draw)

1975: 2-0 v Leeds United, Paris

1976: 1-0 v St-Étienne, Glasgow

1982: 0-1 v Aston Villa, Rotterdam

1987: 1-2 v Porto, Vienna

1999: 1-2 v Manchester United, Barcelona

2001: 1-1 v Valencia (5-4 penalties), Milan

2010: 0-2 v Internazionale, Madrid

2012: 1-1 v Chelsea (3-4 penalties), Munich

2013: 2-1 v Borussia Dortmund, London

Bayern also won the 1967 European Cup Winners’ Cup and 1996 UEFA Cup finals, and the UEFA Super Cup in 2013.

This is Bayern’s third European final against a French club. Apart from their 1976 European Cup win against St-

Surreal Final

The biggest game in club football takes place in the Portuguese capital on Sunday but walking around the cobbled streets of the city you could be forgiven for being oblivious to the impending Champions League final.

A giant replica of the European Cup at the Rossio square is the only clear sign of the big game that will take place across the city at the Estadio da Luz, between Bayern Munich and Paris St Germain. Normally the squares of host cities are packed with fans in the build-up to Champions League finals with beer flowing, songs being sung and business booming for bars and restaurants.

But with COVID-19 forcing organisers UEFA to keep fans out of the stadium, as they have done throughout the other six games held in the city over the past 10 days, there is a strange lack of atmosphere. Indeed, the slump in travel to Portugal, caused by the pandemic, means the city centre is even quieter than it would normally be, even without a huge international game taking place.

The buzz of a Champions League final will certainly be felt in Munich and the French capital, however.

In Paris, the Champs Elysee avenue will be pedestrianised on Sunday evening although wearing face masks will be compulsory, officials said on Saturday.

Bayern’s players, like their opponents locked in a secure ‘bubble’ of hotel and training facilities, wrote an open letter to their supporters in an attempt to keep the connection with the fans.

“We know you’ll be supporting us at home with all your heart during this final — no matter where you are. Whether in Lisbon, Munich or elsewhere in the world, we see our club as a family, and so we’re going into this huge game with you by our side,” the players wrote on the club’s website.

Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa had encouraged fans and tourists to visit the country but his appeal appears to have fallen on deaf ears.

Despite the absence of fans in the stadium, the mini-tournament to finish off the delayed season has produced exciting football throughout and PSG’s French forward Kylian Mbappe said there was still a special feeling to the game.

“Of course, it feels strange to play behind closed doors but it’s still the Champions League. You can feel it the intensity of the matches, the tension that reigns,” he said.

Paris St Germain

Paris St Germain striker Kylian Mbappe says he wants to make history for France by winning the country’s first Champions League title in 27 years in Sunday’s final against Bayern Munich.

PSG beat Atalanta and RB Leipzig in the “final eight” in Lisbon, and Mbappe is feeling relaxed about the test against Bayern and the significance for French football.

“This is exactly why I came here,” he told reporters on Saturday. “I have always said that I wanted to make history for my country. This is a chance. When I arrived in 2017, we experienced several disappointments. Today, we are in the final and that shows that we have not given up.

“It would be a great reward to win with a French club. It was my mission when I came. Winning (on Sunday) would be incredible, it would be an achievement for a French club,” Mbappe added. The last time a French team won Europe’s premier club competition was in 1993 when Olympique Marseille beat AC Milan 1-0.

Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich head coach Hansi Flick is tempted to make changes to his defence for the Champions League final against Paris Saint-Germain this evening.

Flick told reporters after the semi-final win over Lyon: “In the first phase we sometimes defended badly. We also had some careless ball losses that we have to clean that up.” He added: “We know that Paris has very fast players. So we’ll have to see that we organise the defence somewhat differently.”

Jerome Boateng was forced off with injury against Lyon but should be fit for Sunday. Fellow defender Benjamin Pavard enjoyed a late cameo on Wednesday and has been declared available should Flick need him. Niklas Sule, Lucas Hernandez and Javi Martinez could all come in, but Boateng and David Alaba are first choice at the back.

Up top, Robert Lewandowski is looking for a hat-trick to beat Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of 17 goals in a Champions League campaign. He will be partner but Serge Gnabry, while Ivan Perisic and Kingsley Coman will compete for the left-wing spot.

Thiago Alcantara, a transfer target for Liverpool, may well be wearing Bayern’s colours for the final time after declaring his desire to leave. The same can also be said for Philippe Coutinho, whose loan spell from Barcelona is due to end with this game.

The Referee

In any walk of life, fulfilling a cherished ambition brings a feeling of enduring joy and satisfaction. It’s a feeling that Italian referee Daniele Orsato is experiencing at the moment as he prepares for the biggest assignment of his refereeing career.

The 44-year-old father of two from Recoaro Terme, a small town of some 6,000 inhabitants in Vicenza province in north-eastern Italy, will achieve a lifelong dream when he takes charge of Sunday’s eagerly awaited UEFA Champions League final between Paris Saint-German and Bayern Munich in Lisbon.

“You dream about these moments coming in your career,” Orsato reflects. “And for me, the dream of a lifetime – to referee an international final, and the UEFA Champions League final at that – has come true. The first feeling I had when [UEFA Referees Committee chairman] Roberto Rosetti called me to tell me I’d been chosen was one of great excitement.”