2020 Champions League: THE FINAL!

23 Aug 2020 23:23

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As the Champions League 2019/20 season finally draws to a close, it has come down to two of continental Europes largest clubs to settle things. On Sunday night at 20:00, the two will clash at the Estadio da Luz in Portugal. Paris Saint-Germain (or simply PSG) are Frances undisputed top team winning the League 1 for the past three years running. Their opponents will be Bayern Munich, who are the most successful club in German soccer history, having won a record 30 national league titles including 8 on the bounce since 2013.

BT is to show the game for free to everybody, fans can follow along on the BT sport app, BT Sports YouTube Channel, and on Virgin TV.

The last time these two met was in the group stages back in 2018, that time PSG coming away winners by the slenderest of margins, each leg finishing 3:0 and 3:1 with PSG securing the vital away goal. Bayern will be looking to rectify that come Sunday.

The bookies have Bayern Munich as the favourites, with odds of just over Evens available for them to win it in normal time. That would probably because the German club has won all ten of their UEFA Champions League fixtures this season, equalling their own record (2012/13–2013/14). On the road to the Final their 8-2 quarter-final thrashing of Barcelona was the highest-scoring knockout game in UEFA Champions League history and the first time Barça had conceded six goals or more in a European match.

PSG have not been as headline-grabbing but have been steadily making progress and sweeping aside any defence put in their way. They have scored in each of their last 34 UEFA Champions League games, matching the record set by Real Madrid between 2011 and 2014.

What’s the team news?

For PSG Thomas Tuchel joined as manager in 2018. He has since landed two Ligue 1 titles, adding the French Cup and League Cup this season. Having also won the Trophée des Champions at the start of 2019/20, the German coach can now complete a historic clean sweep of five trophies.

PSG 2020 with Neymar, Kylian Mbappé, Ángel Di María and Mauro Icardi as the star performers in a stable 4-4-2, but Tuchel has since had to improvise to cope with absences. The French champions began with Neymar as the playmaker in a 4-3-1-2 against Atalanta and, with Icardi left on the bench, the Brazilian then operated as a false No9 in the 4-3-3 that dispatched Leipzig. Tuchel may be inspired to stick with that solution while keeping faith with a defence that has yielded just five goals in ten games – fewer than any other team.

Star player: Neymar

For Bayern Munich, former assistant Hans-Dieter Flick took over in November 2019 replacing Niko Kovac.

Bayern's high intensity, quick pressing and desire to keep possession, have been key to their dominance under Flick. Arjen Robben and Franck Ribéry are long gone, but exploiting the wings remains fundamental in Bayern's approach – made possible by the incredible work rate of their full-backs Joshua Kimmich and Alphonso Davies.

Star player: Robert Lewandowski

Bayern Munich vs PSG stats

Bayern Munich has won the tournament twice before, whilst PSG is yet to lift the trophy.
Bayern Munich's squad cost less than HALF of big-spending PSG to assemble at £330m compared to £700m.
This will be the first Champions League final played with no fans in the stadium.

Bayern Munich vs PSG betting predictions and tips

We expect there to be goals, given PSG's record of finding a way through to goal combined with Bayerns large scorelines leading to the final, over 2.5 goals in the match is good value.

We also favour the Bayern Munich to win BUT evens is quite low odds given the fact that once these finals get to 80 minutes or so gone teams seem to play for extra time rather than fighting to the end like regular matches. For that reason, Bayern to lift the trophy seems a more sensible choice.

As the Worlds most expensive player, Neymar is unlikely not to feature prominently in this game and is PSG's regular penalty taker despite anything else. Neymar to score (although not necessarily first) is a good bet here too.