Bayern show heart in Paris to leave semi-final wide open

Madness before the break

Spurred on by an electric atmosphere, the two sides produced a high-octane affair from the start. With around a quarter of an hour gone, Harry Kane’s penalty gave the Reds an early lead, which Michael Olise had a glorious chance to double shortly after. By the time Ousmane Dembélé squandered a big opportunity in the 23rd minute, it had become an open, almost absurd end-to-end contest. PSG turned the scoreline around through Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (24’) and João Neves (33’). After Olise restored parity (41’), Dembélé converted a disputable penalty in stoppage time to leave Bayern 3-2 down at half-time.

Anyone who thought the two teams would take it a bit easier in the second period after this crazy first half was wrong. Paris were ruthless to begin with after the break – Kvaratskhelia (56’) and Dembélé (58’) capitalised on two counters in the space of two minutes to make it 5-2 to the hosts. Parc des Princes was rocking.

However, you can never write off this Bayern side – not even when they’re losing 5-2 away to the Champions League holders and everything appears to be going against them in that moment. “We've handled setbacks well because we don't let things like that stop us, we just keep going,” summarised Jonathan Tah. The centre-back and his colleagues dusted themselves down and demonstrated what’s made this team so special this season. With incredible mentality, the Munich men fought their way back into the game and even managed to silence the previously frenetic home fans at times. A quickfire double from Dayot Upamecano (65’) and Luis Díaz (68’) ensured a more promising outlook for the return leg on home soil.

Clear task for second leg

“It feels strange after the match because we lost – by one goal. We were three goals down at one point, came back and had the feeling we actually should’ve equalised,” said midfielder Joshua Kimmich, trying to put his feelings into words on an incredible evening. “It was a very, very intense match. Despite the defeat, I think we showed in a lot of phases what kind of team we are. You saw that we can score a lot of goals. Of course, we conceded too many tonight,” added Tah. And so Bayern head back to Munich with mixed feelings after a historic night, but Kompany is already looking ahead: “The second leg is at home and we have to win. We do that often there and with the support of our fans, the belief is certainly there.”

All to play for after Bayern edged 5-4 in Paris

“In the end it’s only a one-goal margin. We’ll go into the return leg with full confidence, give it everything and then want to be in the final,” concluded Tah. “It will come down to who takes their chances next week,” said Kane. “There were a lot of moments out there today, and it's probably going to be the same next week. Us being at home with the crowd behind us, we hope that can push us over the line.” The fans made it clear immediately after the incredible 90 minutes in Paris that they will give their team a very special energy next Wednesday, as they’ve done so often in the past on big Champions League nights. “Come on Bayern, fight and win!” echoed around Parc des Princes after the final whistle.

All the reaction to the meeting at PSG:

Kompany: 'Need the same passion we had against Madrid'