REPLAY OF LAST YEAR’S FINAL
Holders Bayern host embattled PSG without Lewandowski
HOLDERS Bayern Munich face a test of their ability to defend their Champions League crown without top-scoring striker Robert Lewandowski at home to embattled Paris Saint Germain today.
A knee injury has ruled Lewandowski out of both the quarter-final home leg at the Allianz Arena and the return in Paris next Tuesday.
The timing could not be worse with Lewandowski sidelined for the two-legged repeat of last season’s Champions League final when a Kingsley Coman header gave Bayern the title after a 1-0 win over PSG.
Of the 103 goals Bayern have scored either in the Bundesliga or Champions League this season, Lewandowski has contributed to 46 of them with either a goal or an assist.
Yet Bayern proved at the weekend that they can win a big game without him.
Leon Goretzka hit the winner in Saturday’s 1-0 victory at secondplaced RB Leipzig to leave Bayern seven points clear at the top of the Bundesliga.
Having already faced Leipzig, Lewandowski’s understudy Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting is set to make only his third Champions League start this season against his former club.
The 32-year-old Cameroon striker left PSG after coming on as a replacement against Bayern in last season’s Champions League final.
“The anticipation is huge,” Choupo-Moting said of facing his ex-club.
“It is the new edition of last year’s final.
“Perhaps nobody would have expected that we would meet again so quickly.”
Bayern, who are on a run of 19 games unbeaten in the Champions League, have a score to settle with PSG, against whom they have lost five of their nine previous matches.
PSG, are, no doubt, seeking revenge for their defeat in last season's final, but the French giants appear to have gone backwards since then despite the arrival of Mauricio Pochettino as coach.
News of Lewandowski's absence for the quarter-final first leg has understandably been met with some delight in Paris, especially with Neymar recovering fitness following his latest layoff.
Brazil superstar Neymar was sent off during Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to Lille, who usurped Pochettino’s PSG as French league leaders.
Kylian Mbappe, who scored four goals over two legs in their last 16 to help knock out Barcelona, is expected to partner Neymar in PSG’s star-studded attack.
Covid-19 has cast a shadow over the PSG squad with both defender Alessandro Florenzi and midfielder Marco Verrati having tested positive.
PSG have lost 10 times this season, including three defeats in their last six league games.