Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich combined for nine goals in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal, which ended with the Ligue 1 side grabbing a 5-4 win.
The five goals are the most the recently crowned Bundesliga champions have given up this season. The result was also Bayern Munich’s first defeat since Jan. 24 — a 19-game unbeaten run — and only their third loss in all competitions this season.
PSG was efficient. All five of their shots on goal went past Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. It was the visitors who started the scoring, however, with Harry Kane converting a penalty kick 17 minutes into the first half.
The goal was Kane’s 54th of the season and his 18th successful PK in his last 19 attempts for club and country. It also marked the sixth straight Champions League match for Bayern Munich featuring a Kane goal. The striker now has 171 goal contributions in 143 career games since moving to Germany.
But the hosts would not be held back. The joint top Champions League goalscorers — shared with Bayern Munich — answered seven minutes later with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia‘s ninth of the competition. PSG would then take the lead in the 33rd minute when João Neves went unmarked on a corner kick and flicked a header past Neuer for a 2-1 advantage.
We weren’t done with goals. Michael Olise, putting together a Ballon d’Or-worthy campaign, continued his tremendous season with an equalizer minutes before halftime.
Four goals would not be enough for an entertaining first half. A penalty kick was awarded to PSG in stoppage time after a VAR review confirmed Alphonso Davies handled the ball in the Bayern Munich box. Up stepped Ousmane Dembélé and the hosts grabbed the lead again.
The second half was no different than the first 45 minutes. Kvaratskhelia and Dembélé each scored in a two-minute span to extend PSG’s lead to 5-2 after 58 minutes.
Despite the gap in score, you knew there were more goals to come over the final half hour. Bayern fought back with Dayot Upamecano and Luis Díaz scoring three minutes apart to cut PSG’s lead to 5-4.
But there would be no late drama at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday. PSG held Bayern Munich to go into next week’s second leg at Allianz Arena with the 5-4 advantage and a spot in the May 30 Champions League final up for grabs.
