Paris Saint-Germain booked their spot in the FIFA Club World Cup semi-finals by beating fellow European heavyweights Bayern Munich 2-0, ending a four-match losing H2H run in the process.

As a result of the dearth of attacking quality on display in Atlanta, it took 20 minutes for either side to manufacture a clear sighting of goal, when a slick PSG move ended with Désiré Doué cutting the ball back for Fabián Ruiz on the edge of the area, but he swept an effort over the crossbar. The pair traded blows from there, and Bayern managed to get their first meaningful effort on target through Michael Olise, but Gianluigi Donnarumma was equal to his stinging drive.  

The pendulum swiftly swung back in the Parisians’ favour as they created the best chance of the game just after the half-hour mark. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia took matters into his own hands, weaving past the Bayern defence only to see his low drive repelled by the legs of Manuel Neuer. The game duly swung back Bayern’s way, and Donnarumma was picking the ball out of the back of the net on the stroke of HT as Dayot Upamecano headed home Olise’s free-kick, only for the assistant referee’s flag to cut short Bayern’s celebrations

A nasty injury to Jamal Musiala in the dying seconds of the first half dampened Bayern’s enthusiasm, and things almost went from bad to worse when Bradley Barcola raced clear on goal within five minutes of the restart, but Neuer produced a huge save to bail his side out. He then had his pocket picked 20 yards from goal, but as the ball dropped favourably to Ousmane Dembélé with no one in the Bayern goal, he incredibly saw his effort trickle inches wide of the target. Bayern’s resistance was eventually broken a little over 10 minutes from time through the good work of Doué, who was involved in the build up before getting the ball back on the edge of the area and cutting an effort into the near post which wrong-footed Neuer. 

The Parisians made seeing the game out much harder than it ought to have been, when just five minutes after nosing ahead, Willian Pacho’s shin-high challenge on Leon Goretzka earned him a red card. That looked to be a costly misjudgement from Pacho when Harry Kane headed home what he thought was an equaliser, but for the second time on the evening, the offside flag bailed PSG out. The Parisians’ goal was under immense pressure in six minutes of stoppage time, and their quest wasn’t helped by being reduced to nine men when Lucas Hernández was sent off for an elbow on Raphaël Guerreiro. 

Even two men down, they still managed to add a second through Dembélé with one of the last kicks of the game. A crazy contest had one final twist when Bayern were awarded a penalty in stoppage time, but referee Anthony Taylor overturned his decision after checking the pitchside monitor, meaning PSG rubber stamped their ticket to the semi-finals as they close in on adding to the quadruple of trophies they won in the regular season. 

Man of the Match: João Neves (Paris Saint-Germain)

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