Bayern v. Paris: a Bavarian mountain to climb

A LOOK AT THE TABLE

They may be the clear Bundesliga leaders right now with five consecutive clean sheets in their last five league games, but Bayern Munich have enjoyed a more mixed start to the season in the Champions League. Despite getting their European campaign underway in ideal fashion with a 9-2 thrashing of Dinamo Zagreb on home soil, Die Roten have since fallen to two defeats on the road: 1-0 against Aston Villa and 4-1 against Barcelona. In their previous UCL outing, though, the German giants got back to winning ways by beating Benfica 1-0 at the Fußball Arena München, which helped them climb up to 17th place in the table.

Similarly, Paris Saint-Germain also lead the way domestically but have found the going tougher on the continent. Following their 1-0 win at home to Girona on Matchday 1, Luis Enrique's players had to face up to the ruthless efficiency of Arsenal in their next game, eventually coming away from London with a 2-0 defeat. Then, despite dominating their Matchday 3 encounter with PSV Eindhoven, Les Rouge et Bleu were held to a 1-1 draw by the Dutch outfit before sinking to a last-minute 2-1 loss at the hands of Atlético de Madrid. With four points under their belt, Les Parisiens currently sit 25th in the UCL standings.

THE TWO TEAMS' CURRENT FORM IN NUMBERS

THE OPPOSITION'S STRENGTHS

Vincent Kompany mainly sets his side up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with the evergreen 38-year-old Manuel Neuer still Bayern's captain and first-choice keeper. In front of the man with 144 Champions League appearances to his name will almost certainly be a centre-back pairing of Dayot Upamecano and Kim Min-jae, with Hiroki Itō still out injured and Eric Dier expected to start on the bench.

On the right side of defence, Bayern boss Kompany may have to think outside the box slightly in order to fill the hole left by the absence of Croatia international Josip Stanišić, while there's a strong chance that Frenchman Sacha Boey will also be just short of the match fitness required to start tomorrow's encounter. If so, Die Roten may well call upon the versatility of either Konrad Laimer or Raphaël Guerreiro, which would give free rein on the opposite wing to Alphonso Davies, who will very probably feature in his side's starting XI.

Having once again made himself indispensable to his side since the start of the 2024–2025 season, Germany international Joshua Kimmich still acts as Bayern's midfield metronome and will potentially be accompanied there by his compatriot Leon Goretzka, particularly if the aforementioned Laimer starts in defence. Despite being less prominent in recent months, Goretzka could nevertheless retake centre stage due to the absence of both João Palhinha and the highly promising Aleksandar Pavlović, while in the playmaker position, 35-year-old FCB legend Thomas Müller has all but passed the baton onto the talented 21-year-old Jamal Musiala, whose nine goals and four assists across all competitions this season have made him Bayern's new figurehead.

On the right flank, the competition is fierce between Leroy Sané, who has scored three goals for his club in 2024–2025 so far, and new France international Michael Olise, whose seven goals and four assists since his summer move to Germany seem to have lifted him above his teammate in the FCB pecking order in recent weeks. It's a similar story on the left flank, too, where Serge Gnabry's two goals and four assists so far this season had made him an established starter for his side before the recent return of another France international, Kingsley Coman, who has bagged four goals and two assists in the current campaign up until now. If one thing is for sure, though, it's that the centre-forward position will be filled by Harry Kane, who is another of Bayern's indispensable figures and has already racked up 29 goal involvements in just 17 matches, scoring 20 and assisting in nine others. Finally, after picking up a knock while on international duty with France's U21s earlier this month, Mathys Tel is a doubt for tomorrow's game.