PSG to face Arsenal in Champions League final after holding off Bayern

Paris Saint-Germain are heading back to the Champions League final after a 1-1 second-leg semifinal draw with Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday night.

The French giant edged a thrilling 5-4 game in the first leg in Paris last week, and the defending champions made the advantage count to progress 6-5 on aggregate to set up a final in Budapest against Arsenal on May 30.

Ousmane Dembélé blasted home a first-time finish to open the scoring, with the assist going to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia after a blistering run down the left flank and cutback pass to the France international.

Things got controversial in the 30-minute mark when the referee neglected to call handball on PSG’s Nuno Mendes, who was already on a yellow card, and then waved off shouts for another possible handball on João Neves — this one coming in PSG’s own penalty area.

Ousmane Dembele celebrates scoring PSG’s decisive goal against Bayern München. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

It did not appear the VAR was consulted on either decision, while replays showed that the referee had already blown his whistle for a handball on Bayern’s Konrad Laimer before the perceived Mendes infraction.

With the assist, Kvaratskhelia became the first player to score or assist in seven consecutive Champions League knockout stage games in a single season and drew level with Kylian Mbappé for the most goal contributions in the UCL season with 16 (10 goals, six assists).

Bayern could not find a way back into the game in the second half until Harry Kane scored a late consolation goal just before the final whistle blew.

The Bundesliga giant had won five of their past seven meetings with PSG in Munich, and were going for a repeat of the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup treble they won in 2020 and 2013.

However, they came up one goal short.

PSG will now try to become only the second team to repeat as Champions League winners, with Real Madrid having done so twice by winning the competition three times in a row between 2016 and 2018.