Wednesday has the potential to be the most exciting and dramatic day of the year for sports fans. As well as all the afternoon action from the Cheltenham Festival, we’re also treated to another double-header from the UEFA Champions League. We have arrived at the Round of 16 stage second legs, and there’s still all to play for across the board. Tottenham Hotspur hosts AC Milan in London, which promises to be a cracker. You’ll find an in-depth preview of that game elsewhere on our site.
This page concentrates on the other match going ahead on Wednesday as Bayern Munich welcome PSG to Germany. The Bundesliga champions head into this match as the hot favourites, with many respected pundits following their strong 1-0 win achieved in Paris last month. That was a tough one to take for the Parisians, but they have plenty of scoring threats in the squad and will fancy themselves as being good enough to score the goals needed to take them through. This tie isn’t over yet, and there are plenty more thrills and spills to come.
Bayern Munich’s narrow win in Paris was the twelfth time the pair have met on competitive action, and the head-to-head score now stands at an even six wins each. Interestingly, they have never played a draw, and that will encourage the visitors as a level finish wouldn’t be good enough to keep them in the competition. FCB has won each of the last two by a 1-0 scoreline, and there’s been no more than one goal between the pair in any of the previous four. That’s a run stretching back to December 2017. Will this be another competitive game?
Bayern sits in the driver’s seat
Bayern Munich are in control of this fixture after winning the first leg on the road and playing the second at home with a one-goal aggregate advantage. The German champions won 1-0 in France with the winning goal scored by Kingsley Coman with 53 minutes on the clock. It was a fast start to the second half from the team and despite a few uncomfortable moments when the Parisians were in full flight, FCB deserved their victory. They now aim for more of the same to kill the tie dead.
Munich started this Champions League campaign behind Manchester City and PSG are the three teams deemed most likely to win the trophy by pundits. All three sides remain in the running, but we’ll lose at least one of them this midweek. Bayern Munich are in control but the lead remains a slender one and if they set-up looking to protect their goal, this game could blow up in their faces. PSG aren’t out of it yet and know a convincing win in Germany with a few goals scored would swing things in their direction.
If Munich are to finish the job and book their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, they must defend at least as well as they did in Paris. Their opponents were dangerous in the first leg, using their attacking flair and big name scorers to force the issue. But the Germans didn’t buckle under pressure, calling on all of their experience to dig deep and keep a clean sheet. At the other end of the pitch, Munich were ready in attack when the chance finally fell to them.
PSG are under immense pressure
PSG won the Ligue 1 title back last season, much to the delight of the fans and players, but Champions League glory is the prize they’re after this year. The French giants have spent millions on recruiting the best players and coaches from across the world. Their story is similar to the one at Manchester City where the board have ploughed so much cash into the club and now want to see a return on their investment. They want to win the Champions League.
Being the kings of the continent and competing in the Club World Cup is always the aim at this time of year, but past failures have ramped up the heat. The current squad – Messi, Neymar, Mbappe et al – are under the cosh. They are players with big game experience and a reputation for success in major tournaments. Will that be enough to see PSG blaze a trail of glory all the way to the title? That remains to be seen, but they must perform better in this match than they did in Paris.
Losing at home and further upsetting the fans wasn’t the ideal scenario, but while there’s just one goal in it, PSG won’t be ready to throw in the towel and admit defeat. Beating Munich on their patch is never easy, especially when under so much pressure, but if PSG get the first goal of this game and score it early in the contest, they’ll have a strong chance of rescuing their season and going through to the next stage.
Bayern Munich v PSG prediction
Bayern Munich holds all the aces ahead of this match, but they still have work to do if they are to cross the line and progress to the quarter-finals. They are unlikely to sit deep and try to protect that fragile lead, especially at home. We can expect the locals to be organised in defence, but they will carry the same scoring threat they always do in games.
As is so often the case in the knockout stages of this competition, the first goal will be crucial. If Munich score the opener, the tie will be as good as over, barring any late collapse from the hosts. But if PSG score first, it’s game on. Both teams to score is an option here.
Champions League odds
The pre-match betting odds available at 22bet on this game has Bayern Munich at 1.83 with PSG 3.52 and the draw 4.46.
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