Paris Saint-Germain vs Bayern Munich Preview

Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich will battle for a place in the Club World Cup (CWC) semi final when they face each other at the Mercedes-Benz Arena on Saturday evening.

Champions League winners PSG remain the outright favourites to win the CWC after they thrashed Inter Miami 4-0 in the Round of 16, netting all four goals before half-time. While their incredible attacking firepower has caught the eye all season, their solid defensive foundations could help them here against fellow European heavyweights Bayern.

Luis Enrique’s side are on a run of eight successive games in which they’ve limited their opponents to under one expected goal (xG) and fewer than ten shots, highlighting just how well rounded they’ve become as a team. They will fancy their chances of beating Bayern here.

However, the Bavarians have a big historical edge here as this will be the 15th meeting between these giants and Bayern are slightly ahead with eight wins to PSG’s six.

Vincent Kompany’s side won each of the last four H2Hs – including a 1-0 victory as recently as November. They can become the first team in over 15 years to win five successive matches against PSG if they win here.

As such, Bayern are one of few teams across the world who can put forward a legitimate argument for challenging PSG. They’ll be looking for a more complete performance than in their 4-2 victory over Flamengo in the last 16.

Kompany’s men carry a huge goal threat, scoring 36 times across their last 11 matches, and with the only defeat in that run coming when they made wholesale changes on matchday three of the group stage against Benfica (W7, D3), the German champions won’t be intimidated here.