Paris Saint-Germain’s road to Saturday’s final in Budapest has been anything but straightforward. They finished 11th in the league phase. They needed a knockout play-off to survive. They then produced three of the most ruthless knockout performances the competition has seen in years.
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League phase – inconsistent but dangerous
PSG won four, drew two and lost two of their eight league phase matches – finishing 11th and requiring a knockout play-off to progress. But their wins were emphatic. A 4-0 demolition of Atalanta. A 2-1 victory over Barcelona. A stunning 7-2 thrashing of Bayer Leverkusen at the BayArena. A 5-3 win over Tottenham. When PSG were good, they were devastating.
Defeats to Bayern Munich and Sporting CP, plus draws with Athletic Club and Newcastle in their final three matches, meant they could not qualify directly for the last 16. It set up a nervy knockout play-off – and a campaign that would only grow in confidence from there.
Knockout play-offs – Monaco 5-4 on aggregate
PSG faced AS Monaco in a two-legged tie that went to the wire. Winning the first leg 3-2 in Paris before drawing 2-2 in Monaco, they scraped through 5-4 on aggregate. It was far from convincing. But they were through.
Round of 16 – Chelsea 8-2 on aggregate
Any doubts about PSG’s quality were emphatically erased against Chelsea. A 5-2 win in the first leg at Parc des Princes – three goals in the final 15 minutes after Chelsea had twice levelled at 2-2 – set up a comfortable 3-0 win in the second leg. Eight goals across two legs. Chelsea were blown away.
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Quarter-finals – Liverpool 4-0 on aggregate
A year after eliminating Arsenal in the semi-finals, PSG faced Liverpool and produced two clean sheet performances that underlined their defensive solidity under Luis Enrique. Two goals in each leg – 2-0 and 2-0 – sent the defending champions into the last four without conceding.
Semi-finals – Bayern Munich 6-5 on aggregate
The defining moment of PSG’s campaign. A breathtaking 5-4 win at Parc des Princes in the first leg was followed by a composed 1-1 draw in Munich. Luis Enrique’s side survived Bayern’s onslaught to reach their second consecutive final 6-5 on aggregate – one of the most dramatic semi-finals in recent Champions League history.
Arsenal await on Saturday. PSG have already shown they can win the hard way.
Photo: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
