Was PSG against Bayern the Champions League's greatest ever game? / Photo: FRANCK FIFE - AFP
Was PSG against Bayern the Champions League's greatest ever game?
Breathless, wild, and a thrilling display of what can happen when two teams packed with some of the world's best attacking players are encouraged to play without fear.
Paris Saint-Germain's 5-4 win over Bayern Munich in the first leg of their semi-final on Tuesday might even have been the greatest game in Champions League history.
"That is what happens when two teams don't hesitate and just attack," said PSG's Ousmane Dembele, last year's Ballon d'Or winner.
"It's a Champions League semi-final. We know Bayern are a great team, but so are we."
Harry Kane and Michael Olise scored in the first half for the German champions either side of goals by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Joao Neves, before a Dembele penalty made it 3-2 to PSG at half-time.
Kvaratskhelia and Dembele added further goals in the second half to leave the home side apparently out of sight, only for Dayot Upamecano and Luis Diaz to bring it back to 5-4.
"I am so tired and I have not run all the kilometres the players have. The game had everything," said PSG coach Luis Enrique afterwards.
"We deserved to win, but we also deserved to draw and we would have deserved to lose as well."
French sports daily L'Equipe called the game "total football" in its front page headline on Wednesday, a reference to Johan Cruyff's great Netherlands team of the 1970s.
Luis Enrique and his opposite number Vincent Kompany deserve enormous credit for encouraging their sides to keep pushing forwards, even if Bayern's high defensive line was exploited time and again.
PSG could have been more conservative at 5-2, but Bayern fought back and the tie is now finely poised ahead of next Wednesday's return.
- Concentration of talent -
Bayern had not conceded five goals in a game since December 2023, and not in the Champions League since a defeat to Ajax in 1995.
Kompany, who watched from the stands due to a touchline ban, was disappointed with the goals his side conceded.
That is understandable coming from one of the greatest defenders of his era, but Kompany ultimately prefers to have faith in his team's ability to score goals.
"Football is a bit like religion, and people will believe what they want to believe," said the ex-Burnley manager.
"There is not one style of play that is superior to another. I was in the second division in England where there are lots of long balls, and people like that too. What happened today was a clash of two similar ideas."
Neither coach is likely to change their philosophy next week, even with a place in the final at stake -- Luis Enrique suggested his side will probably need to score three more goals to go through.
There has to be a good chance one of those involved will win this year's Ballon d'Or.
Kvaratskhelia has probably been the best player in this season's Champions League, while Kane is in majestic form at almost 33.
Olise, Dembele and Desire Doue will play for France at the World Cup, a frightening prospect for their opponents.
- Evolving tactical approaches -
Tuesday's game -- which featured only 12 attempts on target -- followed Bayern's spectacular quarter-final win over Real Madrid, and recalled memories of last season's epic semi-final in which Inter Milan beat Barcelona 7-6 on aggregate.
That was the highest-scoring tie in modern Champions League history, and Tuesday's encounter was the most prolific single match at this stage of the European Cup since 1960.
The only Champions League knockout match to feature more goals is Bayern's 8-2 demolition of Barcelona in 2020.
The subsequent abolition of the away goals rule has undoubtedly had an impact, enabling teams to play without the same fear of conceding.
It is a far cry from two decades ago, when European football was dominated by more cautious coaches like Jose Mourinho and Rafael Benitez.
In 2005/06, the two semi-finals featured two goals between them across four matches. A year earlier, Benitez's Liverpool beat Mourinho's Chelsea 1-0 on aggregate in the semis.
The concentration of talent at a small group of elite clubs is also surely a contributing factor -- that may be problematic for the sport as a whole but leads to thrilling encounters when two giants face off.
PSG, the reigning champions, and Bayern are Europe's two best teams right now. They are also the third and fourth-richest clubs in the world.
Whoever wins through next week will be the favourites in the final.
Arsenal and Atletico Madrid have a lot to live up to in the other last-four tie.
W.Barth--BVZ
