Bayern Munich dominate PSG, but fail to win Champions League group

Bayern Munich put in a dominant display at the Allianz Arena to close out the Champions League group stage, beating Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 thanks to a fantastic individual performance from James Rodriguez and a brace from Corentin Tolisso. PSG still win Group B despite the loss, though, so Bayern didn’t completely finish the job — but their fans will be very happy with the result regardless.

It was all Bayern Munich in the first half, with the Bavarians running riot over Paris Saint-Germain’s defense and midfield for long stretches of the opening 45 minutes. That lead to two goals, both set up by James Rodriguez — an eighth-minute goal from a cross that James sent in from the left side that Bayern knocked around in the box for a few seconds before Robert Lewandowski found himself alone in a huge bubble in front of goal, and a 37th minute tally on a counter, with Rodriguez sending in this peach of a cross that Corentin Tolisso headed home with authority.

But PSG came back strong in the second half, adjusting their approach to specifically attack the things Bayern were doing to slow them down in the first half. They put more pressure on Bayern’s defense in the first 15 minutes of the second half than they had in the entire first, and for their efforts they got this crucial goal from Kylian Mbappe off an outrageous assist from Edinson Cavani in the 50th minute.

But moments after Thiago Silva limped off with a bad knock, Bayern went flying up the pitch on a counter attack against PSG’s now-shorthanded defense. Kingsley Coman left Dani Alves spinning around in his wake before crossing to an almost-untracked Tolisso, who scored with ease to put Bayern up 3-1 in the 69th minute.

That set up a chaotic end to the match, with Bayern pushing hard to get two more goals so they could win the group, and with PSG trying to do anything they could to get two goals of their own to at least level the match. There were plenty of scoring opportunities at both ends, with Bayern definitely having the better of the chances, but ultimately nothing came of them and the match ended at 3-1.

It’s not the result Bayern wanted — they needed to win by four goals to win the group — but it was an emphatic win and strong performance from the Germans, who really needed a strong showing here to truly finish exorcising their demons from their poor start to the season. Their deflating loss to Paris Saint-Germain earlier in the group stage is what finally got Carlo Ancelotti fired, and now Jupp Heynckes has flipped the script with a dominant win to cap the group stage.

Bayern Munich: Sven Ulreich; Joshua Kimmich, Niklas Sule, Mats Hummels, David Alaba (Rafinha 85’); Corentin Tolisso, Sebastian Rudy; Kingsley Coman, James Rodriguez (Arturo Vidal 83’), Franck Ribery (Thomas Muller 67’); Robert Lewandowski

Goals: Lewandowski (8’), Tolisso (37’, 69’)

Paris Saint-Germain: Alphonse Areola; Dani Alves, Marquinhos, Thiago Silva (Presnel Kimpembe 72’), Layvin Kurzawa; Marco Verratti, Adrien Rabiot, Julian Draxler (Giovani Lo Celso 90’+1); Kylian Mbappe, Edinson Cavani, Neymar

Goals: Mbappe (50’)

For a good couple of years, it was a sad thing to be a fan of James Rodriguez. He was spending most of his time at Real Madrid sulking and not playing well at all, and while the why and how of the issue was up for debate, the end result was that he wasn’t the kind of dynamic, jaw-dropping talent who won the Golden Boot at the 2014 World Cup any more.

He got off to a slow start this season at Bayern Munich, much like the team as a whole, but he’s been playing a bit more of late and he’s rewarded Jupp Heynckes’ faith with some excellent performances. James had his best showing yet against PSG on Tuesday, with two phenomenal crosses into the box to set up both of Bayern’s first-half goals, and he stood out as their best-performing player all throughout that half. He was everywhere, creating a constant attacking menace, and even doing very well to track back and help disrupt PSG’s passing buildup — just ask Adrien Rabiot about how he feels about James after this match.

Paris Saint-Germain fans were happy to see Dani Alves sign with their team in the summer, with the venerable Brazilian fullback bringing a ton of elite experience to the side and coming off a spring with Juventus where he’d enjoyed incredible form. But despite a few bright moments early in the season, Alves’ performances have not met expectations. In fact, he’s starting to become something of an Achilles’ heel for PSG’s defense.

At 34 years old, Alves doesn’t have the speed he used to, either in terms of his pure running pace or in how quickly he reacts to situations in front of him. That was on display in a big way in this match, with Alves’ poor defending involved in all three of Bayern’s goals, first getting beat cleanly by James Rodriguez, then not closing James down despite the Colombian not having a supporting runner to force Alves to play more conservatively. Bayern’s third goal really showed Alves’ overall lack of speed, though, turning at a glacial pace to respond to Kingsley Coman’s counter-attacking run, then getting absolutely torched by the young Frenchman.

Unfortunately for PSG, their only other option at right back at the moment is Thomas Neunier, who hasn’t played well for them either. They need a better solution on the right going forward, because right now all they have there is problems.

One thing was notably quiet for Paris Saint-Germain in the first half — aside from one bad miss of a scoring opportunity, Neymar was kept almost completely out of the match. That was largely because of the efforts of Joshua Kimmich and Corentin Tolisso, who played some absolutely brilliant defense against the Brazilian megastar to keep him in check.

As Bayern’s right back, Kimmich was the man with the most responsibility against Neymar, but Heynckes put together a tactical plan that saw Tolisso regularly harry Neymar on his way up the pitch from midfield, then Kimmich closed him down and forced him wide. Even when Neymar was able to come inside, it was never on the path that he wanted, and he always had Kimmich in between him and whoever he wanted to link with. It was an impressive performance from the young duo, and a very effective bit of gameplanning to keep one of the most dangerous attackers in Europe quiet.