The 2020 Champions League final will take place between Bayern Munich and PSG.
Bayern who have been utterly impressive both domestically in Germany and in Europe will start as the favourites. PSG have finally made that jump and will contest their first ever final. Indeed their participation in the final marks the first time a French club has made the final since Marseille won in 1993.
The format since the quarterfinals has been somewhat refreshing. Due of the pandemic we have been treated to one off knock out games and there is a strong argument that it has made the 2 legged affair redundant. This has been so much more exciting like watching World Cup knock out games and even a lack of fans has not disrupted some of the brilliant matches we have witnessed.
PSG are in the final and yet they were a minute or so from being knocked out in the quarterfinals when they were trailing 1-0 to Atalanta before scoring 2 goals in injury time. That is the small margin of excellence and error this competition can throw up over one game.
One of the real surprises was seeing Manchester City knocked out against Lyon going down 3-1. City were perhaps the better technical team but Lyon were dogged and wouldn't let Pep Guardiola's team play their normal flowing football. Yet City could well have knocked Lyon out of the competition. Losing 2-1 Raheem Sterling missed an open goal, which will most probably be engrained in his mind for some time to come. That would have made it 2-2 with the ascendency to City. There is no getting away from the fact that City would have been disappointed to go out to Lyon after having knocked out Real Madrid in the previous round.
Bayern have been spectacular and even though it was more of a professional work like attitude that got them past Lyon, they still won 3-0. However their campaign will be remembered for the total destruction of Barcelona where they ran out 8-2 winners. It seemed every time the German giants came forward they scored. Barcelona were poor but at the same time Bayern were on absolute fire and a lot of credit needs to go to their attacking mind-set.
The final is being played on Sunday, August 23rd and PSG have the chance to win it for the first time, about 8 years since being taken over and injected with money. As for Bayern they haven't won the competition since 2013 but they look in perfect shape to do so once again. This is their 6th Champions League final.
There is also the Europa League of course and the final will take place this Friday. It has all of the ingredients to be a good one too as Sevilla will take on Inter Milan. Sevilla have won the competition 5 times in the last 15 years. It's been 10 years since Inter won in Europe when they scooped up the Champions League with Jose Mourinho and they haven't won a trophy in 9 years since winning the Coppa Italia.
Domestic leagues will be returning soon and there is just 3 weeks until the Premier League kicks off. Champions Liverpool will face an interesting first game as they take on newly promoted Leeds Utd at home; this is a fixture that evokes so much history. Manchester City will be at home to Aston Villa, there is an all London derby where Fulham will take on Arsenal, and Everton will be away to Tottenham.
Ligue 1 kicks off this weekend too, although because of PSG and Lyon's participation in the Champions League there is a reduced fixture list.
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