DUESSELDORF, Germany: Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann wants his team to “get at” Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League. Kylian Mbappé wants to add more goals to his PSG scoring record.
They will get their chance on Wednesday when Bayern tries to defend its 1-0 lead in the second leg of the round of 16.
Bayern won the first leg in Paris with a goal from former PSG player Kingsley Coman, but the team’s approach in the return match will be closely watched.
Under Nagelsmann, Bayern tend to defend one-goal lead by trying to score two or three more. Keeping up the attacking pressure worked in the group stage against Inter Milan and Barcelona, neither of which could score against Bayern, but they could allow PSG opportunities to get back into the game.
“Both we and PSG have enormous pace in attack. We want to get at them when they take possession and be physically present from the first minute,” Nagelsmann said Monday. “What we need in the second leg is to prevent them from using their pace. If you give their attackers too much space and they can unleash their footballing qualities, it’s incredibly difficult to defend.”
Either way, one of the two teams will face its earliest Champions League exit since both were eliminated by English opponents in the round of 16 in 2018-19. Bayern and PSG both expect to be in the quarterfinals at the very least, so a loss could affect the future of Nagelsmann or PSG coach Christophe Galtier.
Hiring Nagelsmann on a five-year contract in 2021 was a statement from the Bayern hierarchy that they saw the then-33-year-old German as the architect of a long-term project. He’s now facing a tough challenge from PSG and also a tight domestic title race, with Bayern even on points with Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga.
Both teams are without key players ahead of Wednesday’s game.
Sadio Mané missed the first leg with the leg injury which previously ruled him out of the World Cup, but the Senegal forward has since returned to action and came off the bench in Bayern’s last two Bundesliga games.
Still, Bayern remains without goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and defender Lucas Hernández, both long-term absentees, and fullback Noussair Mazraoui is in training but has not played since the World Cup. Another defender, Benjamin Pavard, is suspended after he was sent off in stoppage time in the first leg and is set to be replaced by Josip Stanišić.
PSG is without Neymar after the Brazilian was ruled out for the rest of the season on Monday with an ankle injury, but Mbappé and Lionel Messi each scored in the 4-2 win over Nantes on Saturday. Mbappé became the club’s all-time leading scorer with 201 goals, breaking a tie with Edinson Cavani.
Right back Achraf Hakimi is in PSG’s squad for the game after he was given preliminary charges in a rape investigation last week. The 24-year-old Hakimi missed the last three French league games with injury.
In the French legal system, preliminary charges mean judges have strong reason to suspect a crime was committed but are allowing time for further investigation before deciding whether to send a case to trial.
Speaking Tuesday in Munich, both PSG midfielder Marco Verratti and Galtier said they expect a completely different match than last month when Bayern’s pressing suffocated PSG.
Verratti said the return to a tactical system with three defenders will certainly help, as well as the presence of a fully-fit Mbappé alongside Messi.
“They are players of a huge experience, that is something that really helps us out,” Verratti said.
Mbappé was only able to play half an hour in the first leg as he just returned from injury. Now fully fit and in full confidence, Galtier expects the France striker to provide extra solutions.
“That will give us more scope to get behind,” Galtier said. “We need to have more possession, play higher and win the ball much faster.”
Bayern to try to contain PSG in last 16 of Champions League
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Bayern to try to contain PSG in last 16 of Champions League
- Bayern won the first leg in Paris with a goal from former PSG player Kingsley Coman
- Under Nagelsmann, Bayern tend to defend one-goal lead by trying to score two or three more
Sporting defend Portuguese title with final day win
- Sporting and Benfica were level on points going into their last match
- Benfica needed to better Sporting’s result to triumph but drew 1-1 at Braga
LISBON: Sporting Lisbon defended their Portuguese crown on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Guimaraes to hold off rivals Benfica on the final day of the Primeira Liga season.
Both Sporting and Benfica were level on points going into their last match after a tense 1-1 derby draw last weekend left the title race on a knife edge.
Benfica needed to better Sporting’s result to triumph but drew 1-1 at Braga, although even a victory would not have been enough as Rui Borges’ side triumphed and had the superior head-to-head.
Pedro Goncalves broke the deadlock in the second half and the division’s top goalscorer Viktor Gyokeres notched his 39th league goal of a stunning campaign to seal Sporting’s victory.
Manchester United coach Ruben Amorim led Sporting to last year’s title and after he departed in November was replaced by Joao Pereira, who only lasted six troubled weeks before Borges took over.
Sporting claimed their 21st Primeira division title and could make it a domestic double as they face Benfica next Sunday in the Portuguese cup final.
Crystal Palace’s Eze seals historic FA Cup final win against Man City
- Local boy Eze volleyed in after 16 minutes
- Omar Marmoush had first-half penalty saved by Henderson as City lost in the Cup final for a second successive season
LONDON: Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze sparked a massive south London party by scoring the only goal to win the FA Cup 1-0 against Manchester City on Saturday and claim the club’s first major trophy in their history.
Local boy Eze volleyed in after 16 minutes, former Manchester United goalkeeper Dean Henderson performed heroics in the Palace goal and City contrived to waste a sack-load of chances including a penalty in an enthralling final.
After England forward Eze, whose goals in the last eight and semis fired his team into the final for the third time, scored completely against the run of play, Palace had to survive a City siege to spark wild celebrations.
Omar Marmoush had a first-half penalty saved by Henderson as City lost in the Cup final for a second successive season, summing up a harrowing campaign in which they have been dethroned as the powerhouse of English football and will go without a domestic trophy for the first time since 2016-17.
For Palace’s massed ranks decked in purple and blue, it was a day of unbridled joy as Oliver Glasner’s team rode their luck to make it third time lucky after suffering defeats in their previous two FA Cup final appearances in 1990 and 2016.
Glasner, who took charge of the club 15 months ago, becomes the first Austrian coach to win the FA Cup.
City have been a pale imitation of the side that has dominated the English game for the most of the past decade.
But the way they began at Wembley suggested that Pep Guardiola’s side were determined to prove that talk of their demise had been greatly exaggerated.
Having picked an ultra-attacking lineup shorn of defensive midfielders, City hemmed Palace deep inside their own half for the opening 15 minutes with Kevin de Bruyne pulling the strings on what was his last Wembley appearance in City’s colors.
BRILLIANT HENDERSON
His lofted ball picked out Erling Haaland whose stretching effort at the far post was brilliantly saved by Henderson who shortly afterwards beat out Josko Gvardiol’s header.
Palace finally broke the siege and in their first foray beyond the halfway line they ripped through City’s lines.
Jean-Philippe Mateta played in Daniel Munoz and his cross was met by Eze who flashed a first-time volley past Stefan Ortega to provoke an eruption of noise from the Palace fans.
Ismaila Sarr nearly made it 2-0 but Ortega saved and Palace’s hearts were in their mouths when Henderson appeared to have handled the ball outside his area under pressure from Haaland but a subsequent VAR check spared him a possible red card.
There was no escape for Palace defender Tyrick Mitchell when he tripped Bernardo Silva and referee Stuart Attwell pointed to the spot. Surprisingly, Haaland did not take it and instead Omar Marmoush stepped forward for his first penalty since joining City in January, but his effort lacked conviction and Henderson dived to his right to save.
Henderson made a flying save to keep out Jeremy Doku’s curling effort as Palace reached halftime ahead despite having only 19 percent of possession.
Munoz thought he had made it 2-0 just past the hour mark but a lengthy VAR check ruled his effort out for offside.
Seven-time winners City went close numerous times after the break with Henderson and his defenders performing heroics to preserve Palace’s lead.
A huge groan went up from the Palace fans as 10 minutes of stoppage time but after more close shaves and nail-biting the final whistle sounded and the club’s anthem Glad All Over bellowed around the stadium.
Dortmund, Frankfurt clinch Champions League qualification on final day of Bundesliga
- Dortmund clinched fourth place and the last for Champions League qualification
- It’s a remarkable turnaround under coach Niko Kovač
FRANKFURT: Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt qualified for the Champions League on the last day of the Bundesliga on Saturday, leaving Freiburg to be content reaching the Europa League.
Dortmund clinched fourth place and the last for Champions League qualification after a 3-0 home win over already-relegated Holstein Kiel, which played with 10 men after less than 10 minutes.
It’s a remarkable turnaround under coach Niko Kovač, who took over in February when Dortmund were languishing in 11th place. Dortmund won their last five Bundesliga games.
Frankfurt stayed third with a 3-1 win in Freiburg, which dropped to fifth as a result, two points behind Dortmund. Freiburg needed to win to qualify for the Champions League in place of Frankfurt.
Mainz overcame three disallowed goals and drew with Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 to qualify for the Conference League in sixth place, a point ahead of Leipzig, which missed out on European qualification after losing at home to Stuttgart 3-2.
Stuttgart next faces Arminia Bielefeld in the German Cup final next weekend.
Kane scores again
Bayern Munich, which clinched the title with two rounds to spare, finished the season a 4-0 winner at Hoffenheim in Thomas Müller’s last Bundesliga game for the club. It was his 503rd.
Harry Kane replaced Müller for the last half hour and set up Serge Gnabry for Bayern’s third goal before he completed the scoring with his league-leading 26th.
It’s the second consecutive year Kane has finished as the Bundesliga top-scorer.
Leverkusen record
While Mainz were playing for European qualification, Leverkusen were thinking of the future in the last game for the club for coach Xabi Alonso and some players.
Mainz had two early goals ruled out for offside then another ruled out through VAR before Anthony Caci finally gave the home team a deserved lead.
But Leverkusen emerged a different side after the break. Patrik Schick scored twice to jeopardize Mainz’s European spot.
A Jonathan Burkardt penalty kept Mainz ahead of Leipzig, which twice squandered a lead against Stuttgart.
It was Leverkusen’s 34th away game without defeat, a new Bundesliga record.
Other results
Heidenheim stayed in the relegation playoff place after losing at home to Werder Bremen 4-1. Frank Schmidt’s team next faces a two-leg playoff against the side that finishes third in the second division to determine which play in the Bundesliga next season.
Bottom club Bochum, relegated last weekend, signed off with a 2-0 win at St. Pauli for their first victory since beating Bayern 3-2 away in early March.
Wolfsburg won at Borussia Mönchenglabach 1-0 and Union Berlin won in Augsburg 2-1.
Cameroon soccer great Emmanuel Kundé dies at age 68
- Kundé scored a penalty against England in the last eight of the 1990 World Cup
- “His death is a huge loss for Cameroonian soccer,” the country’s football federation said
YAOUNDE, Cameroon: Emmanuel Kundé, Cameroon’s defensive anchor on the first African team to reach the quarterfinals of the World Cup, has died, the country’s soccer federation said. He was 68.
Kundé scored a penalty against England in the last eight of the 1990 World Cup in Italy before the Indomitable Lions lost in extra time. He also played at the 1982 World Cup when Cameroon made its tournament debut.
“His death is a huge loss for Cameroonian soccer,” the country’s football federation said in a statement late Friday.
Federation president Samuel Eto’o hailed Kundé as the “control tower” and “defensive wall” on the field.
Kundé twice helped the team win the Africa Cup of Nations — in 1984 and 1988. His second-half penalty was the difference in Cameroon’s 1-0 victory over Nigeria in the ‘88 final in Casablanca.
He made over 100 appearances for the national team.
“He was an intelligent and peaceful man filled with dignity and had a precise magic foot,” Emmanuel Maboang Kessack, a former team member told The Associated Press. “We will never forget him.”
Kundé died of cardiac arrest in his own home, Maboang Kessack said.
Kundé also played club football in France for Reims and Laval, but his main team was Canon de Yaoundé in Cameroon’s capital.
Partying, celebrations not an excuse, Flick warns as champions Barca eye strong finish
- “A lot of players went out partying, but whoever can party can work, it’s not an excuse,” Flick told reporters
- “It’s the last time we play at home and we want to win”
BARCELONA: Barcelona players celebrated the club’s 28th LaLiga title with thousands of fans in an open-bus victory parade on Friday, but coach Hansi Flick was quick to remind them that the season was not over.
Flick, who has led Barcelona to the league title, Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup in his debut season, said he needed his players to focus on finishing the campaign on a high.
“Yesterday was a day of celebration and rest. A lot of players went out partying, but whoever can party can work, it’s not an excuse. I want to finish the season as we started it,” Flick told reporters on Saturday, a day before hosting Villarreal.
“It’s the last time we play at home and we want to win. We want to end the season as champions. We haven’t lost in 2025 (in the league) and we want to keep it that way.”
Flick said he was overwhelmed by the passion of the supporters during the celebrations.
“It was incredible to see the faces, the passion of the people, how they celebrated. It was fantastic to see,” said the coach.
“To celebrate year after year would be amazing. Maybe we can do it again next year. We will work for it. It’s everyone’s title.”
Flick said his team would face a difficult task against fifth-placed Villarreal, with the visitors looking to ensure Champions League qualification with a top-five finish going into the last two matches of the campaign.
“We’re playing against great teams and Villarreal have done a fantastic job, they have won their last four games. You can see the hand of their coach and they have key players,” he added.
Asked if he could start with 11 home-grown players on Sunday, Flick said the idea had been discussed at the club.
“To be honest, we’ve talked about it internally, but we haven’t decided. It could be. We’ll wait until tomorrow to see how the team is,” he said.
