Champions League: Bayern Back On Course In Style, Kylian Mbappe Leads PSG Into Quarter-finals

Doug McIntyre

football journalist

Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain are the first two clubs to reach the quarter-finals of the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League.

Bayern overcame a 1-0 aggregate deficit to beat Italian team Lazio 3-0 in Munich on Tuesday. Harry Kane dispatched the hosts with the nod early in the first half before subbing in the second half.

In Spain, PSG beat Real Sociedad 2–1. Kylian Mbappe scored both goals for the visitors, who advanced 4-1 on aggregate after a 2-0 win in the French capital last month.

Here are three quick thoughts on Tuesday’s two Champions League games:

PSG completes a two-phase masterclass

There was a legitimate question in the French capital ahead of the 2023-24 season: will PSG be better this year than last? The club lost Neymar and Lionel Messi in the summer, leaving Kylian Mbappe as the Parisians’ undisputed main man.

For his part, Mbappe is possibly in his final season with his hometown team. Yet despite all this – and despite the constant noise over the on-again, off-again relationship between the Qatar-owned club and its only remaining megastar (more on that later) – PSG reached the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time. Has reached. Time in three seasons.

Mbappe, who opened the scoring in PSG’s 2-0 win in the first leg of a two-match home-and-home last month, did the same in Tuesday’s return match.

A brilliant individual effort effectively ended the series at the same time, leaving the visitors with an unassailable 3–0 aggregate lead. Mbappe scored another goal in the second half, before the hosts were able to score a consolation goal to complete the scoring.

After slow start, Kane and Muller boost Bayern’s pushback

Bayern Munich still had no answer for Lazio after more than 30 minutes of the win-or-go-home second leg at a packed, tension-filled Allianz Arena. The Italians fully deserved a 1-0 victory in the first leg, and with halftime fast approaching on Tuesday, the visitors were once again the better team.

The pressure could not have been greater for the hosts. But that’s what Harry Kane signed up for when he left perennial Premier League underachievers Tottenham for Bavaria last summer. Kane has been the brightest part of an otherwise nightmare campaign for Thomas Tuchel. And of course, it was he who pulled the Germans back onto equal terms to restore a sense of order. Muller scored the final series winner before the break, before Kane ended the contest with his second.

It was a much-needed result for Bayern, which has already been eliminated from the German Cup and is unlikely to win a 12th consecutive German title this year as Bayer Leverkusen has a huge lead in the Bundesliga. But now, suddenly, in the midst of their worst season in recent memory, the six-time European champions are just five games away from a seventh win.

Mbappé delivers amid latest drama

It’s hard to be surprised by anything Mbappe does now after everything he has achieved during his still-young career. But despite what is shaping up to be a messy divorce – PSG manager Luis Enrique left the World Cup winner out of two recent Ligue 1 matches – Mbappe is clearly unfazed. In his most important competition so far this season, the 25-year-old was at his unstoppable best from start to finish on Tuesday. The brace gives Mbappe six goals in eight Champions League games this season, more than any other player, and an astonishing 46 goals from 69 in his career.

It was enough to surprise anyone: considering these are Mbappé’s last few months Parc des PrincesCan he really get PSG (and him) their first dose of European glory as soon as they walk out the door?

Doug McIntyre is a football writer for Fox Sports. Before joining Fox Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and has covered United States of america Men’s and women’s national teams at several FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @By DougMacIntyre,