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PSG logo
Champions League | Final
Aug 23, 2020 at 8pm UK
Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica
Bayern logo

PSG
0 - 1
Bayern


Paredes (52'), Neymar (81'), Silva (84'), Kurzawa (86')
FT(HT: 0-0)
Coman (59')
Davies (28'), Gnabry (52'), Sule (56'), Muller (90+4')

Champions League final 2020: PSG's history in the European Cup/Champions League

Ahead of Sunday's Champions League final between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at PSG's history in the competition.

Two of the most exciting attacking teams in world football face off in a mouth-watering Champions League final on Sunday as Paris Saint-Germain take on Bayern Munich at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon.

PSG have finally made it to the biggest match in club football as they look to get the hands on the trophy their owners really want, having overcome Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta BC and RB Leipzig in the knockout rounds en route to the final.

The Champions League has been the holy grail for the French outfit since they were taken over, and Sunday will give them the opportunity to end what has so far been a tale of high-profile failures.

Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at PSG's history in the European Cup/Champions League.



Paris Saint-Germain celebrate scoring against RB Leipzig in the Champions League on August 18, 2020© Reuters

PSG may be one of Europe's heavyweights now, but they are still relative novices on the biggest European stage compared with Sunday's opponents Bayern Munich.

The current campaign is just their 13th season in the European Cup/Champions League, and they were not regular competitors at this level until 2012-13.

Since then, domestic silverware has flown freely - they have won 25 of the 31 domestic trophies available to them in the last seven years - but their Champions League story has been one of despair on the whole.

Four years in a row they were eliminated at the quarter-final stage - twice by Barcelona and once each by Chelsea and Manchester City - as they struggled to make the step up to Europe's true elite.

Worse was to come, though, with the 2016-17 campaign seeing them fail to even reach the quarter-finals as they crashed out of the competition in devastating fashion.

PSG players look dejected after losing to Barcelona in the 2016-17 Champions League© Reuters

Barcelona were again their tormentors, although Unai Emery's side looked to be cruising into the last eight when they won 4-0 at the Parc des Princes in the first leg - a lead no team had ever surrendered in Champions League history.

What followed was an almighty collapse, though, as Barcelona pulled off the biggest comeback ever seen in the competition and PSG somehow contrived to blow their advantage in the most dramatic fashion.

Barca still needed three goals heading into the 88th minute of the return leg at Camp Nou, but a brace from Neymar was then followed by a 96th-minute strike from Sergi Roberto to seal a truly remarkable 6-1 win on the night for Bayern and a 6-5 win on aggregate.

PSG's response was to go out and sign both Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, but even the two most expensive players in football history have not been able to improve their Champions League fortunes until this season.

Paris Saint-Germain's Neymar and Kylian Mbappe celebrate overcoming Atalanta BC in the Champions League on August 12, 2020© Reuters

Le Parisiens were beaten by Real Madrid in the last 16 the following year and then squandered another last-16 advantage against Manchester United last season, winning the first leg 2-0 at Old Trafford but then losing 3-1 at home to go out on away goals.

Indeed, despite a decade of extravagant spending, prior to this season PSG's previous best performance in this competition came in 1994-95 when they made it to the semi-finals before crashing out at the hands of AC Milan.

The only previous occasion PSG had featured in Europe's premier club competition before that season was in 1986-87, when they were swiftly dumped out in the first round.

The French outfit also took part in 1997-98, 2000-01 and 2004-05, but were eliminated in the group stages on each occasion.

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Robert Lewandowski celebrates scoring for Bayern Munich on June 20, 2020
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TeamPWDLPTS
1Liverpool440012
2Sporting Lisbon431010
3Brest431010
4Inter Milan431010
5Monaco431010
6Barcelona43019
7Dortmund43019
8Aston Villa43019
9Atalanta42208
10Juventus42117
11Lille42117
12Man City42117
13Arsenal42117
14B. Leverkusen42117
15Celtic42117
16Dinamo Zagreb42117
17AC Milan42026
18Bayern42026
19Benfica42026
20Feyenoord42026
21Real Madrid42026
22Brugge42026
23Atletico42026
24PSV41215
25Sparta Prague41124
26Stuttgart41124
27PSG41124
28Shakhtar41124
29Girona41033
30Salzburg41033
31Bologna40131
32RB Leipzig40040
33Sturm Graz40040
34Young Boys40040
35Red Star40040
36Slovan Bratislava40040


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