Lisbon
Bayern Munich won the European Cup for the sixth time on Sunday as Kingsley Coman's goal gave them a 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in an engrossing Champions League final in Lisbon, completing a fantastic season for the German giants and leaving their opponents still searching for the trophy they covet more than anything.
Bayern Munich players celebrate with the trophy after their Uefa Champions League final match win against Paris Saint-Germain at the Luz stadium in Lisbon on August 23, 2020.
Photo credit: David Ramos | AFP
It was often a cagey final, with a bit of needle between the teams, but chances too, especially before Coman appeared at the back post to head in Joshua Kimmich's inviting 59th-minute cross and wrap up a treble for a team who had already won the Bundesliga and German Cup.
Bayern Munich's German head coach Hans-Dieter Flick holds the trophy and celebrates with Bayern's players after their Uefa Champions League final match win against Paris Saint-Germain at the Luz stadium in Lisbon on August 23, 2020.
Photo credit: David Ramos | AFP
Hansi Flick's team will feel they deserved their victory, yet PSG will regret not taking any of the chances that were offered up to them on a surreal occasion at an empty Estadio da Luz.
Kylian Mbappe in particular should have done better than shoot straight at Manuel Neuer right on the stroke of half-time.
Bayern Munich's Austrian defender David Alaba celebrates with the trophy after their Uefa Champions League final match win against Paris Saint-Germain at the Luz stadium in Lisbon on August 23, 2020.
Photo credit: Miguel A. Lopes | AFP
The France World Cup-winning forward had spoken of his determination to go down in his country's history by helping PSG become just the second French winners of European football's greatest prize.
But they will have to wait for the chance to match Marseille, who won the inaugural Champions League in 1993.
Bayern Munich's Polish forward Robert Lewandowski celebrates with the trophy after their UEFA Champions League final match win against Paris Saint-Germain at the Luz stadium in Lisbon on August 23, 2020.
Photo credit: Miguel A. Lopes | AFP
PSG's Qatari owners spent a combined 402 million euros ($474m) on Neymar and Mbappe in 2017 to win this competition, not just reach the final. However, in the end it was one who got away from Paris who denied them.
The 24-year-old Coman was born in Paris and started his career at PSG, only to leave in 2014 for Juventus, sensing he wouldn't get the regular football he desired if he stayed put.
Bayern Munich players celebrate with the trophy after their Uefa Champions League final match win against Paris Saint-Germain at the Luz stadium in Lisbon on August 23, 2020.
Photo credit: Miguel A. Lopes | AFP
He had been on the bench in the semi-final against Lyon but was promoted to the starting line-up for the final, replacing Ivan Perisic on the left wing.
But at Bayern he will always be remembered as the man who won them this trophy in 2020, in the club's 11th final and seven years after they were last European champions.
Flick's team have ended this season with 21 straight victories and unbeaten in 30 matches. They deserved to be crowned in a full stadium.
However, only a few hundred lucky invitees were inside the cavernous home of Benfica to see the denouement of the 'Final Eight', at the end of a competition so long delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Paris Saint-Germain's Brazilian forward Neymar cries at the end of their Uefa Champions League final match against Bayern Munich at the Luz stadium in Lisbon on August 23, 2020.
Photo credit: David Ramos | AFP
The strangest of finals pitted together two clubs who have taken very different routes to becoming part of Europe's elite, with Bayern's status as Germany's most successful and powerful side long established and PSG having left the rest of the French game behind following the Qatari takeover of 2011.
But if this was a mismatch in terms of history, on and off the pitch right now they are almost perfectly balanced.
Paris Saint-Germain's Brazilian forward Neymar (right) fights for the ball with Bayern Munich's German forward Thomas Mueller during their Uefa Champions League final match at the Luz stadium in Lisbon on August 23, 2020.
Photo credit: Matthew Childs | AFP
That translated into the kind of proper match-up on the field that neither side often experiences these days.
The Pole also came close with a header that was saved by Keylor Navas, PSG's goalkeeper who won the Champions League three times with Real Madrid and who was returning after injury ruled him out of the semi-final against RB Leipzig.
Paris Saint-Germain's French forward Kylian Mbappe reacts at the end of their Uefa Champions League final match against Bayern Munich at the Luz stadium in Lisbon on August 23, 2020.
Photo credit: David Ramos | AFP
But Bayern take risks by playing with such a high line, and PSG should have punished them in the first half.
Bayern Munich's French forward Kingsley Coman (hidden) celebrates scoring the opening goal with his teammates during their Uefa Champions League final match against Paris Saint-Germain at the Luz stadium in Lisbon on August 23, 2020.
Photo credit: Miguel A. Lopes | AFP
Alaba had earlier seen his central defensive colleague, Jerome Boateng, limp out seemingly with a recurrence of the hamstring problem that forced him off against Lyon.
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) supporters walk on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on August 23, 2020, after the end of their Uefa Champions League final match against Bayern Munich at the Luz stadium in Lisbon.
Photo credit: Sameer Al-Doumy | AFP
Bayern had broken the deadlock just before the hour mark in a move that began with a sprayed Thiago Alcantara pass forward, and ended with Coman arriving to head in Kimmich's perfect delivery.
Neymar ended the game with a yellow card for chopping down Lewandowski, and a runners-up medal, while Bayern celebrated.
