Get yourself a team that can do it all; Bayern Munich have won in style, they’ve wreaked havoc, and in the final they grit their teeth and dug out a result against PSG to win their 6th Champions League. In a nervy and cagey game, both teams struggled for fluency, and truthfully it could have gone either way. But while PSG are new at this stage of the competition, Bayern Munich have that intangible ‘Champion Mentality’ which got them over the line. Let’s take a look at how they got the job done. 

This game felt huge for so many reasons. Bayern hadn’t won this competition since 2013, and it has been their obsession ever since. They convinced Pep Guardiola to join after their last success, but they couldn’t retain their European title, nor could they get to another final since then. With the Bundesliga the first major European league to restart post Covd-19 lockdowns, Bayern have had the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal trophies wrapped up for a while now, so for the last month this has been their sole focus. If you don’t believe me, search for #MissionLis6oa on any social media channels you fancy.

For PSG, this was the biggest game in the club’s history. The holy grail for not only QSI, the club’s majority shareholders, but also for the club’s biggest stars. It feels like a long time ago now, and easily forgotten amongst the controversy, but Neymar left Barcelona for the French capital with the sole aim to win this title, with this club, as the main man. This was it. A singular drive and purpose. Meanwhile, Project Mbappé was reaching its final stages. At 21 years old, would Kylian Mbappé complete football? Would he continue to write the sporting history of France, and win the Champions League with a French club?

The headline change before the game was that Hansi Flick had decided to bring Coman back into the starting XI, despite Perišić’s good form in the games previous. Coman is more of a threat in terms of beating his fullback, but no one could blame Perišić if he felt crestfallen with the decision.

The game fell short of any lofty hopes of a classic, end to end shootout, but it was still an absorbing watch. PSG had the first big chance of the game - they won the ball in midfield, and once Mbappé had it under control he was always going to slip in Neymar which he duly did, but his left footed finish couldn’t quite squeeze through the legs of Neuer.

Neither side could sink into their rhythm due to the pressing of the other team. PSG’s front three, Neymar in particular, worked extremely hard to stop Bayern playing out from the back and getting into their flow. As a result, it took Bayern a while before they carved out their first real opportunity, when Davies crossed for Lewandowski, who swiveled and struck the ball against the post. PSG then had another good opportunity when they hit Bayern on the counter attack. Mbappé flicked the ball nicely into Neymar, who ran with it deep into Bayern’s half. If Mbappé ran to the left and taken a defender with him, it would have opened up the space in the middle for Neymar, while giving him a great passing option. Instead, Mbappé ran into the middle and closed the space. The ball ended up with Di María who, rather than go on the outside where the space was, wanted to come back on his left foot. After a well constructed one-two with Herrera, his right footed shot flew over the bar and the chance was gone. 

PSG’s best chance was yet to come, however. A rare moment of careless play from David Alaba gifted the ball to Mbappé in the box. Kimmich did well initially to stop Mbappé having a free shot on goal, but his one-two with Herrera gave him a great chance in front of goal with Neuer to beat. Mbappé’s finish was rushed, unconvincing and unbefitting of a player of his quality, as he scuffed it straight at Neuer. 

In a frantic end to the first half, Bayern went down the other end and Coman, the former PSG youngster, took on and beat Kehrer one-on-one, before falling to the ground after Kehrer put his arm on his shoulder. In truth, it looked like Coman was looking for contact, and it would’ve been a soft penalty to give. 

The 2nd half started in the same way as the 1st, with both teams looking cautious. This all changed when Thiago threaded a lovely ball into Kimmich in midfield, who drove forwards with the ball. It came back to him after a nice lay off from Müller, and his brilliant cross drifted perfectly onto the head of Kingsley Coman, who scored the only goal of the game. Hindsight is indeed a wonderful thing, but Hansi Flick’s decision to start Coman over Perišić now looks a masterstroke. He has yet to  put a foot wrong as Bayern head coach, and he wasn’t going to start in the biggest match of the season. 

With Bayern in the ascendency, they targeted PSG’s right wing. Coman proceeded to give Kehrer a torrid 10 minutes, going at him and past him with ease. Only an incredible last ditch header from Kimpembe stopped Lewandowski getting on the end of a Coman cross. But, for as good as Coman’s wing play was, where was Di María? While Müller, Goretzka and Bayern’s wingers constantly helped whenever Neymar or Mbappe got near the ball, Di María didn’t show the same commitment or tactical intelligence to do the same when his right back clearly needed him. That understanding of the little details, of the flow of the game, are the intangibles that give Bayern the edge in these crucial games. 

As time started to tick down, Di María set up a good chance for Marquinhos, but again Neuer came to the rescue with a great save. After a turbulent couple of years with fitness and form issues, he is once again back to his best. Neymar then set Mbappé through in a rare 2nd half counter attack, but after bamboozling Kimmich and Süle, the Frenchman went down under Kimmich’s challenge. It was a difficult one to call, but Kimmich certainly didn’t get any of the ball.

Choupo-Moting then came on for Di María and made a big difference, but he couldn’t quite repeat his Quarter Final heroics. First, Mbappé again slipped through Neymar, who could neither find Choupo-Moting in the middle of the box nor find the far corner. Then, Neymar’s inspired run led to a great cross, but composed defending from Davies meant Choupo-Moting couldn’t get on the end of the cross, and that was that. 

A hard fought game to cap off a spectacular and dramatic couple of weeks. A 9 year journey for PSG ends in disappointment, but perhaps not total failure. Despite the sharp and cutting sting of defeat, they emerged from this compressed conclusion to the Champions League with more credit than ever before. The question for the Parisian side is, can they sustain deep runs in Europe’s elite competition, or will this be a one off visit to the Arena of the Immortals? Only time will tell. 

For the big red machine, all that matters is winning, and just like on many other occasions this season, that’s exactly what they did. Their first final in 7 years culminated in yet another successful endeavour, and they now join Liverpool on 6 Champions League triumphs, behind only AC Milan and Real Madrid, and reassert themselves as European Royalty. Hungry as ever for dominance, even Bayern Munich had to pause for breath after the game. For Serge Gnabry and Joshua Kimmich, the culmination of childhood dreams. For Robert Lewandowski, the exclamation point on a dominant career. For Thiago, finally a European success befitting his talent. For Manuel Neuer, Thomas Müller and Jerome Boateng, it was business as usual. It was Kingsley Coman, not Kylian Mbappé, who completed football on this occassion.

With the quick turnaround to the beginning of next season, Bayern will surely be favourites to retain their European crown. Who will be able to stop them? This team, with a settled and aggressive style of play, will only be more confident and ruthless entering into the new season. Here’s a scary thought - Leroy Sané hasn’t even kicked a ball for the Bavarian giants yet.