Preview: Bayern Munich vs Paris Saint-Germain - prediction, team news, lineups

Eight days on from an extraordinary opening encounter in the French capital, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain reunite at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday in the second leg of their colossal Champions League semi-final.

The Bavarians and Parisians played out the highest-scoring UCL semi-final match in history at the Parc des Princes, where PSG held off a late turnaround from Wednesday's hosts to emerge 5-4 winners.

Match preview

An epic watch for the neutrals and nerve-wracking viewing for fans of either team, the PSG-Bayern pendulum swung back and forth during last week's record-breaking first leg, in which defensive diligence was not on the agenda for either team.

Les Parisiens' fearsome front three of Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ran the show during the first hour - amassing seven direct goal involvements between them - but Bayern's recovery from 2-5 down to 4-5 within the space of four minutes set the stage for an unmissable, and unpredictable, return fixture.

A penny for Kompany's thoughts while the suspended Bayern boss watched on from up high at the Parc des Princes, where he witnessed Bayern concede five goals in a single Champions League game for the first time in 31 years, and history is not on the hosts' side this week.

Indeed, of the 10 previous occasions where Bayern have lost the first leg of a European semi-final, they have been eliminated nine times, only coming back to reach the final against CSKA Sofia in the 1981-82 European Cup.

Saturday's engrossing 3-3 Bundesliga draw with basement side Heidenheim also means that Bayern are on their longest winless streak of the season, having never gone back-to-back games without a victory in 2025-26 before, and it took a 100th-minute leveller from super sub Michael Olise to even salvage a point.

Also coming from 3-0 down to best Mainz 05 4-3 on April 25 - a demonstration of their comeback powers - Bayern's last three matches have seen an astounding 22 goals scored, while 59 strikes have flown into the back of the net during their last 11 - an average of over five per game.

A nine-goal Champions League semi-final does not mean that both teams were bad at defending, in the eyes of current title holder Luis Enrique, who slammed that "sh*t opinion" when reflecting on his side's narrow, but potentially priceless first-leg victory.

Prevailing by any scoreline in the opening fixture usually means success for Les Parisiens, who have won 36 of their 43 UEFA two-legged ties when triumphing in the first leg, and 14 of their 17 when that victory came by a single goal.

Like their upcoming hosts, PSG also made a plethora of changes for their latest domestic clash - despite not yet wrapping up the Ligue 1 title - and settled for an entertaining stalemate, as Lorient came from behind twice to nab a 2-2 draw in Paris.

The away-day statistics make for extremely joyful reading for the PSG faithful, though, as the reigning European champions have won each of their last six games on the road in all competitions, while keeping clean sheets in each of their last five.

However, PSG shutting out Bayern on Wednesday would be the shock of all Champions League shocks at the Allianz Arena, where FC Hollywood have won five of their last six matches against Les Parisiens, netting 15 goals along the way.

Both sides are also just a few strikes away from breaking Barcelona's single-season record of 45 goals in the 1999-00 Champions League - PSG have netted 43 times and Bayern 42 - and either Arsenal or Atletico Madrid could have their work cut out in Budapest against Wednesday's winner.

Bayern Munich Champions League form:

Bayern Munich form (all competitions):

Paris Saint-Germain Champions League form:

Paris Saint-Germain form (all competitions):

Team News

Bayern have no new injury concerns to worry about for the second leg, and Kompany is also hopeful that teenage sensation Lennart Karl will make a full recovery from a torn thigh muscle in time to be involved.

Serge Gnabry (thigh) and Raphael Guerreiro (hamstring) are both out of contention for the hosts, but neither man would have come into Kompany's thinking for a start on Wednesday, when the hosting manager will revert to his strongest possible XI.

Manuel Neuer, Dayot Upamecano, Alphonso Davies, Joshua Kimmich, Olise, Luis Diaz and Harry Kane will all return after being demoted to the bench against Heidenheim, and the latter is now aiming to score for the seventh Champions League game on the spin, having become the first English player to score in six in a row last time out.

In contrast, PSG suffered a serious fitness blow in last week's nine-goal spectacular, as flying full-back Achraf Hakimi pulled up with a hamstring injury which will sideline him for a few weeks.

With the Moroccan out of contention, Warren Zaire-Emery should cover in defence, allowing Fabian Ruiz to rejoin Portuguese pair Vitinha and Joao Neves in a familiar engine room from PSG's 2024-25 run to glory.

The visitors are also missing second-choice goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier (hand) but are otherwise in good shape for Wednesday, when Kvaratskhelia needs just one goal to set a new single-season UCL record for PSG, having drawn level with Zlatan Ibrahimovic's 10 from 2013-14 last week.

Bayern Munich possible starting lineup:

Neuer; Stanisic, Upamecano, Tah, Davies; Kimmich, Pavlovic; Olise, Musiala, Diaz; Kane

Paris Saint-Germain possible starting lineup:

Safonov; Zaire-Emery, Marquinhos, Pacho, Mendes; Ruiz, Vitinha, Neves; Doue, Dembele, Kvaratskhelia

We say: Bayern Munich 4-2 Paris Saint-Germain (Bayern win 8-7 on aggregate)

All of the evidence points towards another goal-laden affair between two worthy European champions, but the absence of Hakimi - the best defender in the world in the eyes of some - could prove devastating in an attacking and defensive sense for PSG.

Bayern have scored four goals in five of their last seven home games, and we back Kompany's troops to put on another four-midable display, crush PSG's dreams of successive Champions League titles, and advance to the final at the end of a 15-goal extravaganza.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.