Paris Saint-Germain beat Bayern Munich 5-4 in a Champions League semifinal first leg that left the tie hanging by a thread and turned Wednesday’s return match in Munich into one of the season’s defining nights. The winner goes to Budapest, Hungary, on May 30 to face Arsenal, who advanced Tuesday after beating Atlético de Madrid 1-0 and winning 2-1 on aggregate.
The opener between the tournament’s two highest-scoring teams had nine goals and no shortage of nerve, with Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich now sitting at 43 and 42 goals respectively, the first time two clubs have each topped 40 in the same Champions League season. Bayern have five wins in their last seven home matches against Paris Saint-Germain in Munich, a record that gives the German side real hope even after the loss in Paris.
The semifinal also arrives at a strange moment for Bayern. The club has already clinched the Bundesliga title, yet its recent results have been anything but routine. It came back from 3-0 down to beat Mainz 4-3 before traveling to Paris, then twice fought back to draw 3-3 with Heidenheim the weekend before the second leg. That makes the home leg less a formality than a test of whether Bayern can still impose itself when the margins are thin.
Paris Saint-Germain has its own recent memory of turning big nights into something more. Last season, the club won the Champions League final in Munich, beating Inter Milan 5-0 to become European champion for the first time under Qatari ownership. That history adds another layer to this tie: Paris has already proved it can finish the job on the biggest stage, while Bayern is trying to repeat the treble it won in 2020 and 2013.
The contrast is sharp. Bayern’s title is already secure, but its path back to the final depends on whether it can handle a PSG side that has been freer and more ruthless in attack. For Luis Enrique, the question is whether Paris can carry the first-leg edge into Munich and keep a season of high-scoring, high-stakes football moving toward one more final in Budapest.
