In the 2020 Champions League final in Lisbon, it was Joshua Kimmich who provided the cross from the right. On Tuesday night in Paris, it was Alphonso Davies from the left. But the result was the same: a Kingsley Coman winner for Bayern Munich against Paris Saint-Germain.
Three years ago, Coman’s header won Bayern a sixth European Cup. The 26-year-old’s cushioned right-footed volley against his former club and in the city of his birth on Tuesday didn’t have quite the same glorious consequence, but was just cause for celebration nonetheless, putting Bayern in the driving seat at the half-way stage of this last-16 tie.
“I was born here and this is my home, so I’m very happy – even if I didn’t want to celebrate the goal,” Coman told broadcaster Amazon post-match. “If we play like that [in the second leg], and if we have a bit of luck, we’ll be on the right path.”
Coman’s 53rd-minute strike was just reward for Bayern’s performance in the preceding first half, which began with an Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting chance and continued largely with Bavarian dominance.
PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma kept the hosts in the tie with a series of top-quality saves in the next ten minutes, tipping a Choupo-Moting drive onto the crossbar and parrying a Benjamin Pavard header from the subsequent corner.
Enter Kylian Mbappé
Ultimately, however, Bayern will feel fortunate to be leaving the French capital with a first-leg lead after substitute Kylian Mbappé inspired a second-half Parisian powerplay.
The 24-year-old was a pre-match doubt after pulling his hamstring earlier this month but was passed fit enough to provide “a glimmer of light on the bench” – in the words of French sports newspaper L’Équipe.
But his entry just before the hour-mark was more like a bolt of lightning, immediately injecting pace into PSG’s attacks and forcing a vital save from Yann Sommer when one-on-one. He then thought he had drawn his team level in the 82nd minute but Nuno Mendes was judged marginally offside in the build-up.
“You could feel the euphoria in the stadium when he came on,” said Bayern’s Choupo-Moting of Mbappé. “He’s so fast, technically strong and was immediately dangerous. He’s one of the best in the world.”
Nagelsmann: ‘On a knife-edge’
Bayern were reduced to ten men in injury time when Pavard was shown a second yellow for hacking down the otherwise quiet Lionel Messi, but held on.
“We were in a wobbly position, it was on a knife-edge,” admitted head coach Nagelsmann. “They’re not easy opponents, but we’ve taken the first step, so I’m satisfied.”
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