Paris Saint-Germain will go into Sunday’s UEFA Champions League final with the hope of landing a first-ever title, while Bayern Munich will become the second side to win a treble as both teams lock horns inside the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, in this season’s grand finale on Sunday.
Both teams secured comfortably wins in their semi-finals with 3-0 wins over RB Leipzig and Lyon respectively and will now battle to be crowned kings of Europe.
Victory on Sunday will not only see PSG become Champions League winners for the first time in their history, they will become the second French side to do it after Marseille in 1993.
Also, PSG will equal the record set by Celtic in 1967 after the Scottish giants lifted a quadruple of European Cup, league title, Scottish Cup and League Cup.
PSG owners have made no secret of the fact that the Champions League is the holy grail for them and, after years of underachievement in the competition, it could be written in the stars for them to pull off their crowning glory in the club’s 50th anniversary year.
Success at home is almost a given now for Le Parisiens, who have won 24 of the last 28 domestic trophies available to them, but victory on Sunday would see them finally join the top table of Europe’s elite.
For Bayern, they will clinch their second treble after achieving it in 2013 and will become the second European club after Barcelona (2015) to do it.
The Bundesliga giants have been simply scintillating en route to the final, netting an incredible 42 goals during a perfect 10 wins from 10 games in the competition this season.
An 8-2 humiliation of Barcelona in the quarter-finals was the most memorable of those wins, although amazingly it does have competition – Bayern have also beaten Tottenham Hotspur 7-2 and Red Star Belgrade 6-0 in one-off games, as well as hammering Chelsea 7-1 on aggregate.
The Bavarians already boast the best goals-per-game ratio in Champions League history and need three more goals to equal Barcelona’s all-time record of 45 in a Champions League campaign – recorded over 16 games in 1999-00.
Both PSG and Bayern should have all of their superstar names available for the final.
However, there are some injury doubts on both sides, and given Bayern’s goalscoring pedigree PSG will be particularly hopeful of having first-choice goalkeeper Keylor Navas back available.
The former Real Madrid shot stopper was forced off with a thigh injury against Atalanta and subsequently missed the semi-final, leaving him as a major doubt for this match with Sergio Rico again set to deputise.
Layvin Kurzawa and Idrissa Gueye are also fitness doubts for Tuchel’s side, but Marco Verratti did get some minutes towards the end of the semi-final and may earn a place back in the starting XI for the final as a result.
Icardi was a notable absentee from the starting lineup against Leipzig and, given how well the false nine system worked with Neymar, he may again be consigned to a place on the bench if Tuchel stick with a 4-3-3.
Bayern, meanwhile, will hope to be able to name an unchanged side from the semi-final but could be without Jerome Boateng, who picked up a knock in that match which forced him off at half time.
Hansi Flick has options in reserve – namely Niklas Sule, Lucas Hernandez and Javi Martinez – but he will give Boateng every opportunity to prove his fitness ahead of the game.
Boateng is one of four likely starters who were also involved in the 2012-13 treble-winning season, along with Manuel Neuer, David Alaba and Thomas Muller.
Thiago Alcantara could be playing his final game for the club if he is granted his wish to leave, while free-scoring Robert Lewandowski needs two goals to equal Cristiano Ronaldo’s all-time record of 17 in a single Champions League campaign.
