{"id":12367,"date":"2026-05-06T23:20:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T23:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/12367\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T23:20:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T23:20:44","slug":"paris-saint-germain-returns-to-champions-league-final-as-dembele-goal-stifles-bayern-munich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/12367\/","title":{"rendered":"Paris Saint-Germain returns to Champions League final as Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 goal stifles Bayern Munich"},"content":{"rendered":"

MUNICH (AP) \u2014 Ousmane Dembele<\/a> scored early and Paris Saint-Germain eliminated Bayern Munich<\/a> with a 1-1 draw to reach the Champions League<\/a> final again on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia<\/a> raced clear after playing a simple one-two with Fabian Ruiz<\/a> in midfield, then picked out the unmarked Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 to sweep the ball in under the crossbar in the third minute of the semifinal second leg.<\/p>\n

By the time Harry Kane<\/a> equalized in stoppage time it was too late to keep alive Bayern’s dream of a Bundesliga<\/a>, German Cup and Champions League treble.<\/p>\n

The draw gave PSG<\/a>, the defending champion, a 6-5 win on aggregate after edging their encounter 5-4 in the first leg in Paris last week.<\/p>\n

The French league leader will face Arsenal in the final in Budapest, Hungary<\/a>, on May 30, after the Gunners defeated Atletico Madrid 1-0 on Tuesday to progress 2-1 on aggregate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s magnificent, two finals,” PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said. \u201cNow we will go there and try to fetch a second star. I said to the players we are warriors.\u201d<\/p>\n

PSG\u2019s defense \u2014 breached four times in Paris last week \u2014 kept Bayern\u2019s much vaunted attack of Kane, Luis D\u00edaz and Micheal Olise largely in check.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know how to suffer and we\u2019re ready for what we have to face,\u201d PSG midfielder Joao Neves<\/a> said. \u201cWe\u2019re very proud of how far we\u2019ve come.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the time Kane let fly for his 55th goal across all competitions including the German Supercup for Bayern this season, PSG\u2019s substitutes were already lining up to celebrate.<\/p>\n

The England<\/a> captain’s goal ensured Bayern has scored in every competitive match this season. Bayern coach Vincent Kompany struck an optimistic tone despite the disappointment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made progress this season,\u201d Kompany said. \u201cWe have to do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Real Madrid was the last team to achieve back-to-back titles \u2014 winning three in a row from 2016-18.<\/p>\n

\u201cShoot us into the final,\u201d the Bayern fans had urged their team with a huge choreography as the combatants emerged on the field.<\/p>\n

Bayern only needed one goal to level the tie, but it soon turned to two after Fabi\u00e1n sent Kvaratskhelia on his way.<\/p>\n

If the Georgia<\/a> star was surprised by how much space he was offered by the absent defense, he didn\u2019t stop to question it. Desire Doue<\/a> was another option queuing beside Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 to take a shot with Luis D\u00edaz the closest Bayern player back.<\/p>\n

Bayern\u2019s players complained the already-booked Nuno Mendes should have been booked again when the ball hit his arm in the first half, but referee Jo\u00e3o Pinheiro blew instead for a handball from Konrad Laimer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There were more protests shortly afterward when Vitinha<\/a> struck teammate Jo\u00e3o Neves\u2019 arm with the ball in the penalty area with a clearance.<\/p>\n

Kompany played down the importance of the referee’s calls, though he also said more time should have been played in stoppage time.<\/p>\n

While Bayern dominated possession, PSG was more efficient, with Dou\u00e9 and Kvaratskhelia keeping Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer<\/a> alert after the break.<\/p>\n

\u201cPSG were killers with their five goals and how they scored (last week),\u201d Neuer said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we needed today. I think we were close to the final but couldn\u2019t finish the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

PSG already had good memories of Munich. The city was the scene of PSG\u2019s triumph in the final last season when it demolished Inter Milan 5-0 to fulfill its Qatari owners\u2019 quest to become European champion for the first time. A relatively unchanged team is well-placed to deliver the second title.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MUNICH (AP) \u2014 Ousmane Dembele scored early and Paris Saint-Germain eliminated Bayern Munich with a 1-1 draw to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[222,2575,201,9326,3719,7763,4154,2358,9324,7892,696,30,9309,134,1626,9325],"class_list":{"0":"post-12367","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-paris","8":"tag-bayern-munich","9":"tag-bundesliga","10":"tag-desire-doue","11":"tag-event_recap","12":"tag-fabian-ruiz","13":"tag-harry-kane","14":"tag-joao-neves","15":"tag-khvicha-kvaratskhelia","16":"tag-konrad-laimer","17":"tag-manuel-neuer","18":"tag-ousmane-dembele","19":"tag-paris","20":"tag-paris-sg","21":"tag-uefa-champions-league","22":"tag-vitinha","23":"tag-womens-international-friendlies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}