Comment: The PSG and Bayern Munich provide a lesson for the Premier League
Having put out a team to do that, Luis Enrique perhaps put it best.
You could say this first leg was unique, given how it set a record for a Champions League semi-final, but there’s somehow more to come. There was even the promise of more to come, as befitting the attacking attitudes that drove this entire spectacle.
“Now we’ll go to Munich to try to win and qualify,” Ousmane Dembele said. “We’re going to attack and Bayern are going to attack.”
Vincent Kompany agreed. “We could have scored more, and that has to give us belief.”
Read the full piece and reaction from Miguel Delaney below:
Is Harry Kane one of the best English players of all time?
“I think he’s getting close to being one of the best players in the world, he’s more than a striker,” Jamie Carragher tells CBS Sports.
“He’s getting close to the end of his career. When he gets there, where will he be among the greatest English players of all time?
“He probably needs a couple of big trophies to go with the absolute greats, he’s not far away, he’s one of the best players our country has ever produced.”
Harry Kane emphasises Bayern’s biggest takeaway
“It’s hard to be happy after a loss,” Kane says. “But when you’re 5-2 down in a semi-final, away from home, you show the character, crazy game.
“A lot to digest and improve on, but just belief, we scored four goals, they have to come to the Allianz and we need to make that our fortress.”
How the Champions League provides the opportunity to stop Arsenal’s season from unravelling
To see the Arsenal squad at training this week, you wouldn’t necessarily think they were about to play for just a second Champions League final in their history. So many people at the club say they’ve just been more relaxed, and that’s actually been the case for every European game this season.
And yet here they are, the squad newly abuzz.
“That’s the way we are all feeling,” Mikel Arteta said, “and that’s the energy that I feel amongst the team and the club. This is the stage that we want to be, that we have earned.”
Harry Kane believes Bayern ‘could have killed the game off’ despite Champions League defeat to PSG
Kane scored the first of nine goals when he converted an early penalty for Bayern but the reigning champions responded through Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Joao Neves to take the lead. Michael Olise equalised but a controversial penalty was awarded to PSG for handball and Ousmane Dembele sent the hosts into the half-time break 3-2 ahead.
PSG increased that deficit to 5-2 but goals from Dayot Upamecano and Luis Diaz ensured that Bayern only trail by one ahead of the second leg in Germany next week.
Wayne Rooney criticises defending in ‘crazy’ and ‘chaotic’ European clash between PSG and Bayern Munich
Former Champions League winners Wayne Rooney and Clarence Seedorf have criticised the defending during PSG’s enthralling 5-4 win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final first leg, arguing that neither side will be happy despite taking part in a European game for the ages.
The holders edged out the German champions after a superb contest in Paris, with PSG taking a slender one-goal lead into next week’s second leg at the Allianz Arena.
But it could have been even better for the Parisians, who were 5-2 up in the 58th minute before conceding twice in three minutes to give allow Bayern back into the tie.
And despite plenty of attacking quality being on show at the Parc des Princes as a record-equalling nine goals were scored in a European Cup semi-final tie, Rooney and Seedorf opted to focus on the defending, with the former saying that “there have got to be questions asked” of both sides.
The contrast at the heart of the Champions League semi-finals – and what it says about football’s future
At this stage of the season, when the Champions League really reaches that gloriously charged air, even staff meetings can have an edge about getting it right.
While some coaches at both Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain are naturally concerned with working out structures to stop opposition attackers, for example, others are more keen to shift the emphasis. Make them stop us.
In other words, to go for it. To let Jamal Musiala rampage at PSG and pin them back, as Kvicha Kvaratshkelia tries to do the same to Manuel Neuer’s defence. The potential effects could be electric football, and a tie to match any of those from recent Champions League history and the 2015-19 “era of comebacks”. They would also be a natural follow-on from the free-flowing play we saw between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the quarter-final, perhaps suggesting new trends for the competition.
Arsenal in three-way fight for Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez, Diego Simeone claims
Alvarez, 26, has scored 20 times across 52 appearances for Atleti this season and is due to line up against the Gunners in the opening leg of their last-four clash at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano on Wednesday.
Bukayo Saka in squad to face Atletico Madrid but Mikel Arteta confirms key absence
Arsenal were dealt a double injury blow at the weekend during their 1-0 victory over Newcastle as both Havertz and Eberechi Eze were forced off the pitch either side of half-time.
Champions League dates
With the first of the semi-finals now out of the way, here’s a brief look at the remaining fixtures and dates for the 2025/26 Champions League:
Wednesday, 29 April
Atletico Madrid vs Arsenal – 8pm BST
Tuesday 5 May
Arsenal vs Atletico Madrid – 8pm BST
Wednesday, 6 May
Bayern Munich vs PSG – 8pm BST
Saturday, 30 May
Champions League final – Budapest, 8pm BST (9pm CEST)
