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Mark OgdenNov 4, 2025, 06:37 PM ET
PARIS -- It's time to take Bayern Munich seriously as potential UEFA Champions League winners. Right now, the Bundesliga giants are the team to beat on the road to next May's final in Budapest, and they proved it on Tuesday in adversity in Paris.
If you can beat Paris Saint-Germain in the Parc des Princes, it marks you out as a team to be feared, but Bayern left the French capital with a 2-1 win despite having been reduced to 10 players before half-time thanks to double goalscorer Luis Díaz being sent off for a dangerous challenge on Achraf Hakimi.
Playing with a one-man disadvantage against the European champions -- and arguably the best team in the world, regardless of their FIFA Club World Cup final defeat against Chelsea in July -- Bayern flipped from a display of first-half dominance and flair to turn in a backs-to-the-wall show of defiance in the second half.
And it was all glued together by the stubbornness and ageless heroics of goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who celebrates his 40th birthday next March, and also the selflessness of Harry Kane, who defended with as much determination as any of his teammates to ensure that Bayern extended their incredible start to the season to 16 successive wins in all competitions.
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"The main thing for me, and I say it a lot, is that when there is hype, I tell my players, please don't believe it, you're not that good, but if you have a bad performance, you're not that bad either," Bayern boss Vincent Kompany told reporters.
"We have won 16 and tomorrow it's back to zero. We have to win next the game. But defending with 10 is another token we must take with us through the season."
Until the dismissal of Diaz in first-half stoppage time -- referee Maurizio Mariani had initially issued a yellow card before upgrading it to a red after a VAR review -- Bayern had cut PSG apart with their breathless counter-attacks, scoring twice through Colombia international Diaz, a £65.5 million summer signing from Liverpool.
The manner in which Kompany's team dominated PSG was impressive enough, especially as the Ligue 1 champions were only without the injured Désiré Doué and benched João Neves from their strongest side at the outset of the game. But the six-time Champions League winners deserve their status as favourites to win the competition because they showed they can master both sides of the game -- the attacking and the defending. And the fact that they did it against PSG means that they can justifiably say that they have taken on the best and won.
"At 11 against 11, Bayern were stronger," PSG coach Luis Enrique said. "Without a doubt."
It is easy to dismiss Bayern's domestic dominance as the norm having been crowned as Bundesliga champions 12 times in the past 13 seasons.
So their nine-game winning streak in the league so far this season, even including victories against Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen, could be regarded as impressive, but not enough to merit being billed as the best team in Europe. The Champions League is a much more reliable measuring stick, though, and Bayern have not had it easy in the league phase.
They opened up with a 3-1 win against Chelsea on matchday one and they have now inflicted a loss on PSG, so already they can claim victories against the world and European champions. The likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Real Madrid and Manchester City will all back themselves against any opponent in the Champions League and they all have the players to beat Bayern but, right now, none can claim to be better than Kompany's team.
In the first half in Paris, Kane, Diaz and Michael Olise gave PSG the kind of attacking torment that Ousmane Dembélé, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Doué inflicted on the French club's victims on their way to Champions League glory last season. And Kompany's midfield three of Serge Gnabry, Aleksandar Pavlovic and Joshua Kimmich matched up to Vitinha, Fabián Ruiz and Warren Zaïre-Emery in the heart of PSG's line-up.
Diaz's goals, in the fourth and 32nd minutes, gave a fair reflection of Bayern's control, even though PSG saw a Dembele goal ruled out for offside, moments before a hamstring injury forced him out of the game.
But it was the dismissal of Diaz that ultimately allowed Bayern to showcase the other side of their game -- the one that they rarely get asked to show in Germany -- in terms of their ability to withstand heavy pressure from a dangerous opponent. They did so because Kompany's players defended as a team, but also because of Neuer's contribution and that of center backs Dayot Upamecano and Jonathan Tah.
If Bayern were a heavyweight title contender, everyone would be aware of their power and attacking threat, but there would also be questions about the strength of their chin. Yet after going toe-to-toe with PSG in their own backyard and emerging victorious, nobody can now ask questions about Bayern's resolve and their ability to hold on against constant attacks.
They have the goal threat, from Kane, Olise and Diaz, and also the defensive strength to go all the way in this season's competition. It's still early days in the season, but Bayern are as strong as any team in the world.
"The Champions League winner isn't decided now, otherwise PSG wouldn't be the champion last season," Kompany said. "It's about getting through to the next round, going from there and being in this form at the end of the season."
