Looking back at the top 5 clashes between PSG and Bayern Munich

Tomorrow’s match between PSG and Bayern promises to be a thrilling one. It is the European Champions against what is arguably the most in-form team in Europe (Bayern have won every single game in all competitions so far this season) in what is perhaps the hardest group stage fixture to call so far. PSG’s domestic difficulties have been contrasted by their Champions League excellence this season so far, as they have cruised to three wins out of their opening three games.

Indeed, they go into the game first in the Champions League table, with Bayern just behind them, level on points and goal difference but with one fewer goal scored. In anticipation of this match, let’s take a look back at the last five meetings between the two sides, all of which have had a lot on the line.

Last five PSG vs Bayern Munich clashes

PSG 2-0 Bayern Munich, 05/07/2025

A club world cup clash over the summer that saw PSG, freshly crowned European Champions, see off Bayern Munich in the Quarter Finals of that competition, despite being reduced to ten men. Indeed, in what was a fiery encounter and Thomas Müller’s last ever game for Bayern after 17 years of service, both William Pacho and Lucas Hernandez were sent for an early bath. This didn’t deter the Parisians, who scored two late goals through Desiré Doué and Ousmane Dembélé to send the Germans home.

Bayern Munich 1-0 PSG, 26/11/2024

So much can change in less than one year of football. At the end of November last year, PSG looked uncertain to even make it out of the Champions League group stage, never mind to win the whole tournament. As for Bayern, they never really had to get out of second gear as they cruised to a comfortable home victory against a side that had yet really truly to kick into gear under Luis Enrique.

Given the incredible success that has taken place in the interceding year, it’s strange to remember this fixture that was played less than twelve months ago. A further irony is that Ousmane Dembélé, now a Ballon D’or winner, was sent off for two yellow cards in twenty minutes, and was roundly criticised for his lack of discipline and consistency. Min Jae Kim scored the only goal of the game from a header.

Bayern Munich 3-0 PSG (agg, 0-1, 2-0), February/March 2023

The 2022-23 season was a strange one for PSG. It started off with so much promise: Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar Jr looking like a truly devastating trio for the first four months of the season had them noted down as one of the early favourites for the Champions League. However, after the World Cup winter break, in which Messi was of course victorious, the team seemed to take their foot off the gas. Neymar suffered a crippling injury, and Messi and Mbappé’s form slightly dropped off.

They faced a Bayern side coached by Julian Nagelsmann in the Champions League last 16, a competent team but far from vintage Bayern, missing a striker after the sale of Robert Lewandowski and before the acquisition of Harry Kane. In truth, the tie was never really close, as goals from Coman in the first leg, and then Choupo Moting and Gnabry in the second, sent PSG home. It was a fairly limp exit for the Parisians, although it is notable as the last ever tie in the Champions League for both Lionel Messi and Neymar.

Bayern Munich 3-3 PSG (agg 2-3, 1-0, PSG qualify on away goals), April 2021

Another big knock out tie between the two sides, this time one that saw PSG come out on top over the Bavarian giants. The games were played in front of empty stadiums, as this was the season affected by the Coronavirus pandemic, and both legs were marked by moments of genius from Neymar Jr, who perhaps put in some of his most inspired performances for PSG since his world record move from Barcelona.

The first leg saw him create two goals early on, for Mbappé and Marquinhos, and although Choupo Moting and Müller brought Bayern back into the game, Mbappé had the last say with a brilliant individual goal. The second leg PSG lost 1-0, again with Choupo Moting scoring, but still qualified thanks to the now defunct away goal rule. It represented a second straight semi-final appearance for PSG, who went on to lose to Manchester City in the next round.

Bayern Munich 1-0 PSG, 23rd August 2020

The strangest Champions League final of recent years, as PSG played their first ever Champions League final in front of an empty stadium in Portugal, having competited in a strange, shortened, Covid issue Champions League. PSG were largely relying on Neymar and Mbappé’s brilliance in all honesty, and they went into the final slight underdogs versus a Bayern side who were almost the form team in all of Europe, having just thrashed Barcelona 8-2.

The game itself was mostly unremarkable, as Manuel Neuer kept out the best PSG chances, and Kingsley Coman, a former PSG academy player, scored the only goal of the game with a point blank back post header. Neymar’s full-time tears were perhaps the defining image of the game, and PSG’s first ever Champions League final ended in heartbreak, something that they managed to correct on their second attempt a few months ago.