Paris SG Vs Bayern Munich Football Match Score 9 March 2023
Bayern Munich are the favourites for this UCL match with the Opta supercomputer (50.3%) and expected to win both legs against PSG.
Lionel Messi looking to become just the second player to score 50 UEFA Champions League knockout stage goals.
Paris Saint-Germain have already lost more competitive matches in 2023 (five) than they did in 2022 (four).
Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain will meet for the 13th time in the UEFA Champions League, this time with PSG needing to turn around a 1-0 first-leg defeat at home in order to make it through to the quarter-finals. The reigning Ligue 1 champions should know their opposition well, with this meeting making Bayern their most frequent opponents in the competition.
Bayern’s victory in Paris on 14 February has given them a big advantage coming into this second leg at home. They’ve been eliminated just twice on the 22 previous occasions that they’ve won the first leg of a UCL knockout tie, going out to Real Madrid (2001-02 quarter-final) and Inter Milan (2010-11 round of 16). PSG’s loss last month was just the sixth time they’ve been defeated in the first leg of a UEFA Champions League in 19 knockout ties. They’ve progressed just once from this position, and that happened at this stage of the tournament against Borussia Dortmund in 2019-20.
It was Bundesliga beats Ligue 1 in the battle of the reigning league champions on Valentine’s Day, with Bayern Munich enjoying a 1-0 win over Christophe Galtier’s PSG at Parc des Princes in the first leg of this last 16 UCL tie.
Kingsley Coman’s 53rd-minute strike was the difference, with the Frenchman volleying home under Gianluigi Donnarumma’s body. Paris Saint-Germain thought they’d rescued a draw with eight minutes remaining, but VAR ruled out Kylian Mbappé’s strike for offside.
Coman – who also scored the winner in the 2019-20 UCL final for Bayern against PSG – has now played 50 games in the competition, with the first leg seeing him end on the winning team for the 39th occasion. This is the most wins by a player in their opening 50 UCL matches. Paris Saint-Germain’s first shot of the game didn’t come until stoppage time in the first half, which was their longest wait for a shot in recorded history within a game in the competition (108 games since 2004-05).
Aged 16 years and 343 days, Paris Saint-Germain’s Warren Zaïre-Emery was the youngest player to start a UEFA Champions League knockout match, breaking the previous record set by Bojan in April 2008 for Barcelona vs FC Schalke 04 (17 years, 217 days). He started alongside Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos for PSG, both of whom made their UEFA Champions League debuts before he was born. Bayern Munich and Sadio Mane have their sights set on the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals as they look to finish the job against Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Co. in the second leg of their last-16 tie on Wednesday (kick-off: 9pm CET).
Kingsley Coman scored the only goal of the game when the teams met in the French capital on Valentine’s Day, giving Julian Nagelsmann’s side the edge ahead of this decisive encounter at the Allianz Arena. Bayern lost their next game against bogey team Borussia Mönchengladbach, but remain top of the Bundesliga pile on goal difference thanks to subsequent wins over Union Berlin and VfB Stuttgart. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, who laced his boots for PSG between 2018 and 2020, celebrated his recent contract extension with a goal on Saturday so is expected to keep his place against his former teammates, despite the return to action of Mane. “It’s normal that he needs a bit more rhythm,”
Nagelsmann said of his Senegalese superstar after the Stuttgart game. “We’ll wait and see on Wednesday if he will start.” Benjamin Pavard is definitely out due to suspension, so Nagelsmann must choose whether to stick with Josip Stanisic as part of a three-man rearguard alongside Dayot Upamecano and Matthijs de Ligt, or whether to revert to a 4-2-3-1 formation with Joao Cancelo returning at right-back.
Mbappe and Messi were both on target for PSG at the weekend as they defeated Nantes 4-2 to consolidate top spot in Ligue 1. It was a third consecutive league victory for the Parisians following the first-leg reverse against Bayern, and while both superstar forwards are expected to start in
Munich, coach Christophe Galtier has confirmed that the third member of their attack – Neymar – will play no part due to an ankle injury. The tactician has sent his side out in a 3-5-2 formation of late to compensate for the Brazilian’s absence and is likely to do so again on Wednesday. That should see Sergio Ramos at the heart of the defence with fit-again ex-RB Leipzig man Nordi Mukiele in contention alongside former Borussia Dortmund speedster Achraf Hakimi. Mane scored three times in the groups, adding to his 26 Champions League goals for former club Liverpool.
Coman has two goals and two assists in six Champions League meetings with boyhood club PSG.
Nagelsmann’s Bayern have scored more goals than any team in Europe this season (104 across 34 games in all competitions).
Bayern have lost just six of their last 50 Champions League matches at the Allianz Arena, where they have scored at least once in their last 22 home games in the competition, and only failed to fire in two of their previous 50.
The win in Paris made it six clean sheets in seven Champions League games so far this season for Nagelsmann’s side.
The six-time winners have reached the quarter-finals or better in nine of the last 10 seasons, lifting the trophy twice.
