Bayern Munich trophy-machine facing breakdown against PSG in Champions League

Reigning champions must overcome the absence of key players and a 3-2 deficit if they want to secure their semi-final spot

BAYERN MUNICH RATINGS: Manuel Neuer - 5, Beaten by the power on Mbappe’s shot for the opener, but will feel he should have done far better. Had some shaky moments with the ball at his feet. Getty

Benjamin Pavard - 7, Put in a good ball to assist Choupo-Moting’s goal and was largely solid in his defending throughout. Getty

Niklas Sule - 5, Completely stopped when the ball went over his head for the game’s second and struggled before going off. Reuters

David Alaba - 6, Struggled to get to grips with PSG’s attackers when he was at centre-back, but looked better in midfield. Came so close to scoring an equaliser with two separate efforts. AFP

Lucas Hernandez - 6, Came close within two minutes, but struggled defensively before the substitutions were made. Booked for a foul on Dagba. EPA

Leon Goretzka - 5, Forced a good stop from Keylor Navas but failed to make a real mark during his half an hour spent on the pitch. Reuters

Joshua Kimmich - 6, Lost the ball to Neymar to start the move for the opener. His free-kick delivery resulted in Bayern scoring the equaliser, but some of his decision-making was questionable. Booked for dissent. Getty

Leroy Sane - 5, The German was meek for large periods of the game. There were a few times where the winger looked like creating something, but his play was often too sloppy to capitalise. Getty

Thomas Muller - 8, Could have done better with his early chance but popped up to score the equaliser with his head. Getty

Kingsley Coman - 6, Was good in the build-up but struggled to find the finish or final pass required to create a goal. PA

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting - 7, Scored an emphatic header to get Bayern back in the game, but will feel that he could have had another goal after hitting the bar and missing a good chance before that. Booked for dissent. Reuters

SUBS: Alphonso Davies (Goretzka 33’) - 8, Did a great job of helping to settle the team. He even kept the ball out on the line, while also getting forward well at times. AFP

Jerome Boateng (Sule 42’) - 6, Looked solid at the start but Mbappe twisted the German inside out and then put the ball through his legs for PSG’s third. His control seemed to slip after that. Booked for a foul on Neymar. Getty

PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN RATINGS: Keylor Navas - 7, Made great stops to deny Goretzka and Pavard but had no chance for the Bayern goals. Getty

Colin Dagba - 8, There were a few moments early on where the 22-year-old looked a little vulnerable, but he showed plenty of perseverance to put in a solid defensive display. Also had some decent moments going forward. EPA

Marquinhos - 8, The Brazilian only lasted half an hour, but what a 30 minutes it was. He made some brilliant blocks and interceptions before going on to score the game’s second goal. AFP

Presnel Kimpembe - 7, Had the occasional sloppy moment but often looked in control when called upon defensively, getting his head on balls and making some smart challenges. AFP

Abdou Diallo - 6, Put in a largely solid performance, but he’ll be disappointed that the cross for Bayern’s first came from his side. AFP

Danilo Pereira - 7, Had a few shaky moments on the ball and needed to do a better job of marking Choupo-Moting for Bayern’s first goal. Redeemed himself with two tremendous headers to prevent the same striker getting a clear chance. AP

Idrissa Gueye - 7, Gave away a few unneeded fouls early on but did a brilliant job of disrupting Bayern’s play and winning the ball back for his team. Getty

Angel Di Maria - 7, Gave the ball away in dangerous areas a few times, but worked hard for the team and showed moments of quality. It was his ball that got Mbappe one-on-one with Boateng for PSG’s third. AFP

Neymar - 9, Both of his assists were masterfully executed, and the Brazilian looked like causing a threat whenever he got the ball. The Brazilian faded a little bit in the second half, but it was still a brilliant display. Getty

Julian Draxler - 6, Had the ball in the back of the net but it was called off for offside. The German took a shot from range when he should have set up a teammate. Booked for a foul on Pavard. Getty

Kylian Mbappe - 9, Scored within three minutes thanks to the power generated in his strike and took his second superbly. Looked like carving out a chance whenever he got the ball. Getty

SUBS: Ander Herrera (Marquinhos 30’) - 6, Did his usual battling in midfield but was pretty basic with the ball at his feet. Made a great block to deny Alaba near the end. EPA

Mitchel Bakker (Diallo HT) - 5, It was far too easy for Muller to lose him to score Bayern’s second. The full-back never looked truly comfortable. Reuters

Moise Kean (Di Maria 71) – N/R, Didn’t get any goalscoring chances but put in a good shift for the team and held onto the ball well. AP

Rafinha (Neymar 90’) – N/R, Showed intelligence in his short time on the pitch, moving the ball well and drawing a foul to help run down the clock. EPA

The most reliable trophy-machine in European football over the last 12 months roars into Paris on Tuesday. But you don’t need to listen too hard to hear the engine putting, some of the gear changes clanking awkwardly.

Bayern Munich’s smooth defence of the mass of trophies they collected from 2019-20 has hit some awkward bumps.

The most damaging, potentially, is the deficit they take into the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final with Paris Saint-Germain, who won 3-2 in a snowy Munich last week, a handsome halfway lead in the tie, given the three away goals. Bayern face a tricky equation: They must win 2-0, 3-1, 4-2 or better to affect a turnaround in 90 minutes. And they must achieve that margin of victory without two of their most efficient goalscorers.

Leading marksman Robert Lewandowski is out, still recovering from the knee injury he picked up while on international duty with Poland last month. Serge Gnabry is in self-isolation following a positive Covid-19 test.

Leon Goretzka, a regular supplier of goals from midfield, also has a muscle strain that puts his full participation in doubt, and Kingsley Coman, the winger and scorer of the goal that delivered Bayern the last European Cup final at PSG's expense, suffered a knock at the weekend. Coman's best understudy, Douglas Costa, was already on the injury list.

And then there's the background noise. At Bayern, a club of vast ambition, internal fault lines between the levels of management tend to be quickly amplified, not least when standards slip on the field, as they did last week in the Champions League and again in Saturday's 1-1 draw with Union Berlin.

Tensions between Hansi Flick – the coach promoted from his assistant's role in November 2019 to lead a run that delivered a Bundesliga title, a German Cup, a Champions League, domestic and European Super Cups and the Club World Cup – and Hasan Salihamidzic, the sporting director, have overshadowed the lead up to the Paris expedition.

Bayern 2 PSG 3: first-leg gallery

Kylian Mbappe celebrates after scoring PSG's first goal in their 3-2 Champions League quarter-final first-leg victory against Bayern Munich on April 7. Getty

Bayern's Thomas Mueller after missing a chance at the Allianz Arena in Munich. AP

Kylian Mbappe scores PSG's first goal. Reuters

Kylian Mbappe and Neymar celebrate the opening goal. Getty

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting celebrates scoring Bayern's first goal. AP

Marquinhos celebrates after scoring PSG's second goal. AP

PSG's Neymar sees his shot blocked by Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. PA

Thomas Muller heads home Bayern's second goal. Getty

Kylian Mbappe scores PSG's third and his second against Bayern. AP

Thomas Muller celebrates with team mate Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting after levelling the scores. Getty

PSG's Brazilian forward Neymar controls the ball. AFP

Thomas Muller celebrates after scoring Bayern's second goal. Getty

PSG players celebrate after Kylian Mbappe's second goal. PA

PSG forward Kylian Mbappe appeals for a foul during the game. AFP

Both Flick and Salihamidzic are former Bayern players. They have held different positions on transfer priorities over the past three transfer windows.

“The squad we had last year was stronger,” said Flick, aware it would sound like a criticism of the club’s strategy, ahead of the trip to Paris. In fact, the personnel changes since Bayern beat PSG in last August’s final are relatively few – Thiago left for Liverpool, Philippe Coutinho and Ivan Perisic returned to their parent clubs after loans at Bayern – but Flick had pushed for the purchase of established but up-and-coming young players. He saw very few of his suggestions for refreshing the squad materialise.

For Bayern, it promises to be a challenging summer of comings and goings. The two senior centre-backs at the club, Jerome Boateng and David Alaba will leave when their contracts expire in June. Alaba is most likely to join Real Madrid, while Boateng weighs-up his options having learned only recently – Flick was angry about the timing of the announcement – that Bayern would not be renewing his deal.

Boateng and Alaba have been lining up in the Bayern defence together for a decade, have done so in two victorious European Cup finals and, if Boateng can overcome soreness in his knee, Flick will value their combined experience at the Parc des Princes.

Bayern’s defensive alignment was utterly awry for the opening half-hour of the first leg, when Kylian Mbappe scored on the break and a Neymar pass put Marquinhos clear to score PSG’s second goal.

Boateng then replaced Niklas Sule. The comeback Bayern launched from that point will be their touchstone tonight. Goals from Eric Choupo-Moting and Thomas Muller took a see-saw first leg back to 2-2, before Mbappe struck the third PSG away goal.

On that wild night, Muller lost count of the chances Bayern racked up in the Munich snow. He thought it was 20 by the final whistle. Statisticians counted 31 Bayern shots. “When you have 31 shots, you still have to add some coolness with the finishing,” said Muller yesterday [Monday]. “But we’ll be happy if we get that many opportunities again. We just have to make better decisions when they come.”

“It’s about keeping the balance,” added Muller of the task before Bayern. “We have to take some risks, and our basic philosophy is to attack. We will push for an early goal, but we don’t need to go out straight away trying to crowbar it in.”