Champions League final 2020: Neymar, Lewandoski exchange fire
Bayern Munich could send Champions League records tumbling when they face Paris Saint-Germain in the final tonight, with Robert Lewandowski and Neymar out for a share of history.
For the first time since 2017 and that earth-shatter- ing €222million move from Barcelona, PSG are in a Champions League knock- out match where you can honestly say their destiny lies at Neymar’s feet, but not without a fight from Lewandoski.
Everything is going through him. His shots aren’t finding their target, the nerves are looking a little frayed, but still they get the ball to Neymar at every opportunity.
The Estadio da Luz plays host to the 2019-20 Champions League final tonight as first-time finalists, Paris Saint-Germain, take on five- time winners of the competition, Bayern Munich.
Both teams comfortably made it through their semi- finals with 3-0 wins over RB Leipzig and Lyon, respectively, and will now battle to be crowned kings of Europe a title which would complete an historic treble for either club.
A fresh slice of history beckons in Lisbon for one of these giants as they face off in club football’s most prestigious match, but their past history at this stage of the competition could barely be more different.
Bayern have been here and done it all before only Real Madrid can top their tally of 11 European Cup and Champions League finals, while only Madrid, AC Milan and Liverpool have got their hands on the trophy more often.
It has not been all triumph and glory for the Bavarian juggernauts, though, and they have lost as many finals as they have won in this competition, Juventus being the only team to have been beaten more often at this stage.
PSG know all about despair in Europe’s premier club competition; their recent history has been littered by high-profile failures and it remains impossible to consider their Champions League past without thoughts immediately going back to their Neymar inspired 6-1 defeat to Barcelona in 2016-17.
Now with Neymar in their ranks and beginning to show the decisive influence PSG have been hoping for since his world-record move, the Ligue 1 giants have the chance to finally banish those memories and the hurt of seven successive seasons in which they failed to make it past the quarter finals.
The 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 crown- ing 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 today would see them finally join the top table of Europe’s elite.
– Sporting Sun/Sunday Sun
