All hail The King, Bayern Munich!
Capture 6th UEFA Champions League title
Hero Kingsley Coman returns to sink PSG 1-0
Bundesliga reigning kings, Bayern Munich on Sunday night won their sixth Champions League title in Lisbon, thanks to Kingsley Coman’s second-half header against Paris Saint-Germain.
It was Bayern’s first European title since 2013 and capped a remarkable season in which they wrapped up their treble.
Despite expectations of goals’ galore, both teams went into the break scoreless. Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Robert Lewandowski, rated among the world’s most prolific forwards, all had great chances but could not break the deadlock.
After a nervy first 45 minutes, there were few metres given in the second half and it was Coman who proved the match-winner with his 59th-minute header against the club where he started his football career.
It was indeed historic for the winger, who stepped off the bench to make his PSG debut in February 2013. A member of the Parisiens’ academy since the age of eight, Coman became the club’s youngest ever player when replacing Marco Verratti against Sochaux.
A potential symbol that, despite the money of Qatar Sports Investment (QSI), there would still be a commitment to giving youth a chance at Parc des Princes. Coman made just two further league appearances for PSG before departing for Juventus in the summer of 2014.
Fast-forward six years, and the Ligue 1 champions found themselves on the cusp of validating the huge financial outlay that has defined them since the arrival of President Nasser Al-Khelaifi as they emerged for the club’s first ever Champions League final in Lisbon.
But guess who became their nemesis? They, however, had not counted on Coman being there to pour cold water all over their continental dreams.
Paris born and bred, it was Coman who ghosted in at the back post to head Joshua Kimmich’s gorgeous floated cross past Keylor Navas to secure a sixth European Cup for Bayern Munich.
It also completes a treble-winning campaign for Bayern that scarcely seemed feasible when Hansi Flick took over the managerial reins in November.
Since replacing Niko Kovac in the Allianz Arena dugout, the Bavarian Manager Flick has done little or practically nothing wrong. H11is decision to start Coman – nicknamed ‘The King’ around the Bayern training ground – ahead of Ivan Perisic was yet another call that paid massive dividends.
The World Cup winner has struggled throughout his time in Bavaria with injuries. This season’s 38 appearances in all competitions are the most he has managed in a single season since arriving at Bayern in 2015, with his struggles leading the club to fork out €49 million (£45m/$55m) to sign Leroy Sane so as to ensure a more consistent attacking threat is available on the left-hand side of their attack going forward.
But if the 24-year-old is about to face a battle to prove he remains a viable, long-term option for Flick, then he could not have made a better start.
Despite PSG matching them throughout in the Portuguese capital, it cannot be said that Bayern have not deserved their title. They have won every Champions League match played this season – the first team to do that in the history of the tournament – and tore apart Tottenham, Chelsea, Barcelona and Lyon along the way.
For this year’s competition, the final night belonged to an impressive Bayern side. A night that will remain ever so memorable for Kingsley Coman, the Parisian who came back to haunt PSG. – Goal.com with agency reports
