Bayern Munich took a significant step towards a direct quarter-final place in the Women’s Champions League on Tuesday night, winning 2-1 against Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes. The visitors led 2-0 at half-time and then had to hold their nerve as the hosts pushed hard in the second half.
PSG started on the front foot, but Bayern gradually took charge, and their opener came from Pernille Harder’s persistence on the right. The Danish forward beat her marker and fired a hard ball into the box, and the ball slipped between the legs of Polish goalkeeper Katarzyna Kiedrzynek and over the line for an own goal in the 29th minute.
Paris had to open up in search of a reply and were punished on the break shortly before the interval, when Germany international Klara Bühl finished a slick move with a firm shot past Kiedrzynek.
The second half belonged largely to the home side. A handball in the Bayern area gave PSG a penalty, which captain Paulina Dudek converted in the 65th minute to set up a tense final half-hour. Bayern thought they had restored their two-goal cushion eight minutes from time, but the effort was ruled out for offside, and PSG kept coming. A header from Kanjinga flashed just wide and a late shot in stoppage time also missed the target.
Bühl summed it up to German broadcaster ZDF as a test her team had passed. The win lifts Bayern to eight points after four games of the league phase, improving their chances of a top-four finish that would spare them a two-legged play-off round in February. PSG remain on five points with a European trip to Chelsea up next, while Bayern meet Austria Wien before a December meeting with Barcelona.
