UEFA Champions League: The Final ⚽️🏆🏟

 Paris Saint-Germain vs Bayern Munich

Welcome ladies gentlemen to another post, and not just any post, but the Final of this season's UEFA Champions League! It was a clash between France's top club against Germany's top club in a bid to see who would conquer Europe. It was my pleasure to watch this game, at the edge of my seat a bit 😂, but also getting to jot down the different important plays that occurred within the game.

Background information

Both teams have been the big players of this Champions league season. They both scored the most goals in the season and they both came out dominating their respective groups in the group stage. For PSG, it was the first time in their history to reach the Champions league final, and for Bayern, they were set on a record of winning all their Champions league games in a season.

 PSG's road to the final had taken a bump when they lost to Borussia Dortmund in their first leg, round of 16 encounter. But the Parisians salvaged themselves and went on to beat Dortmund in the second leg, also beating Atalanta dramatically in the quarter-finals and cruising through RB Leipzig in the semis.

Bayern, on the other hand, dismantled Chelsea home and away, completely destroyed Barcelona in the quarter-finals 💀🤡 and managed to defeat a stubborn Lyon team in the semis. They did not look too invincible, but they certainly made the most of the chances they got and incredibly maintained a 100% record in the competition.

P.S This was the first-ever UEFA Champions League final to be played behind closed doors.

The match

First-half 

Cagey wasn't it? Yes, indeed. PSG did threaten when Neymar made an attempt on Neurer's goal but the German goalie incredibly kept the shot out. Jerome Boateng sustained an injury in the game, and had to be replaced by Niklas Sule. Bayern had their chance at goal when Lewandowksi got the ball, took a turn and shot at PSG's goal. The ball struck the post. Bayern asked questions again, as Thomas Muller floated a cross in, which managed to find Lewandowski's head but Keylor Navas was equal to it and kept PSG alive. PSG got another chance for themselves. David Alaba made a poor pass which found itself to Kylian Mbappe. Mbappe passed the ball on to Ander Herrera who gave it back to Mbappe, who then unleashed a really tame shot for Neurer. Bayern saved by poor finishing. Bayern held claims for a penalty in first-half stoppage time but the ref called the claims off. No goals, but there was much to play for in the second-half.

Tight contest

Second-half

The second-half maintained the vibes of the first. As the game got to the 59th minute, Thiago Alcantara played a pass across the field which got to Joshua Kimmich. Kimmich passed to Gnabry who tried to reach Muller in the box. The ball didn't get to him but got back to Kimmich who crossed it inside. In the blink of an eye, Bayern Munich scored the opening goal and the goalscorer was Kingsley Coman ⚽👏🏽. It now looked like Bayern had taken control of the game, because the ball was crossed at the side where Coman had scored , and this time Coman did get a touch of the ball and sent it down the middle, but it was cleared by Thiago Silva. PSG tried creating their own chance when Di Maria sneaked in a ball for Marquinhos, who has been in surprising goal-scoring form, only to be saved by Neurer again. The game remained with a single goal, as time was ticking. In the first minute of stoppage time, Bayern looked for a penalty again but it was to no avail. At the same time, PSG got the ball and launched a counter-attack on Bayern. Mbappe played in a clever pass for Neymar, who passed trying to find Choupo-Moting to somehow repeat what they did against Atalanta. The move failed. Time passed on and soon enough, the referee blew the final whistle of the game. It was all over. PSG were left heartbroken. Bayern Munich were on Cloud 9.

A goal from an unlikely source

Full-time

The result for the final was as follows:

Sunday, 23 August 2020

Paris Saint-Germain 0-1 Bayern Munich      ←Click here to watch the game

Ladies and gentlemen,

Your UEFA Champions League winners for the 2019/20 season:

Bayern Munich!

6x Kings Of Europe ⚽🏆

Verdict- my thoughts

Bayern Munich 

I think Bayern deserved it. The way they were bulldozing teams seemed unreal, for a moment I thought Lyon may get an upset on them, but that didn't happen. They maintained their spirit until the very end. Even in this game, I thought PSG would finally beat them, but that didn't happen.

Paris Saint-Germain

I was amazed to see them in the final. PSG looked down and out playing against Atalanta, but they produced one of the greatest Champions league comebacks in that game. They looked to be back in their rhythm when they beat Leipzig and it was all setting up an anticipated showdown against Bayern. Unfortunately, they failed to get even a goal in this game, and now they'll have to go again next season.

Conclusion

Bayern Munich were crowned European champions for the 6th time in their history. To add to that, they were the first team ever to win all their Champions league games in a single season. They simply had a 100% record in the whole tournament 💀🔥⚽. Wowzerrs 🤯. For PSG, it was the closest they've ever gotten to winning the trophy, but they stumbled yet again, having failed in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Really something that sores the heart. Hopefully next season, they may come back stronger. It was a tense final, but at least it didn't go to extra-time and penalties 😅. My first time ever writing about a final and I did it. Yess 🎉🥳😂.

I shall be making my last post of this season later on, and I'll be looking to be back probably by November 📚, for the 2020/21 season. Might get in some updates about the group stage draw, but we'll see.

As for now, I bid you guys farewell

Goodbye ⚽🏆🛣