Club World Cup: Meeting of Champs Set to Sparkle Stateside

Bayern Munich vs Paris Saint-Germain

It’s time for the European champions against the German champions in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium this weekend.

At stake: a place in the semi-finals of the Club World Cup.

This SBOTOP writer has a feeling that whoever triumphs in this last eight tie may well end up winning the tournament.

Either way, we should be in for a compelling contest full of Club World Cup 2025 highlights.

 

Talking Points

Both teams had good wins in their quarter-finals.

Bayern won 4-2 against Flamengo in Miami as England captain Harry Kane scored twice, with Leon Goretzka and an own goal also contributing.

Meanwhile, PSG cruised through their round of 16 clash after thrashing Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami 4-0, thanks to a Joao Neves double, a strike from Achraf Hakimi and another own goal.

Personnel wise, both the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 champions have had a boost.

Vincent Kompany’s team, which romped to the German top flight title, will be without Leroy Sane who has joined Galatasaray, but Jamal Musiala is back from injury and will be a big boost.

Michael Olise and Serge Gnabry will surely start with Kingsley Coman – who has a fine record against PSG – likely to be ruled out after he limped off against the South Americans.

PSG have their own weapons ready with Ousmane Dembele likely to make his first start of the tournament, while former Bayern man Lucas Hernández and Willian Pacho bring experience to their backline.

With 16 goals to their name, Bayern are currently the highest scorers at the Club World Cup, a statistic helped significantly by the 10 they put past the amateurs from Auckland City in their opening match of the tournament.

Olise is the top scorer in the competition with five goals with Kane and Coman (four each) just one behind, while Vitinha and inspired January signing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia are the leading marksmen from PSG so far with three apiece.

 

History

Bayern have won six of their last seven matches against PSG, including each of the last four, and have also kept clean sheets in that quartet of games.

These two teams met last season when a header from Kim Min-Jae won the group stage contest in Germany.

Of course both sides qualified for the knockout stages and PSG bounced back to be crowned European champions for the first time in their history.

The sides also met in the last 16 in 2023 when Coman netted the only goal in Paris before Erix Maxim Choupo-Moting and Gnabry were on target in Munich for a 3-0 aggregate success.

Aside from the 2020 Final in Lisbon, won by a Coman goal, there have been some thrillers.

The following season, PSG edged out a Robert Lewandowski-less Bayern on away goals after the two-legged quarter-final had ended 3-3 on aggregate – Kylian Mbappe with two of the PSG goals.

They also had three home victories apiece when they met in the group stages in 1997, 2000 and 2017.

Their very first meeting in this competition came in 1994, also at the group stage, when George Weah and Daniel Bravo scored in a 2-0 win in Paris before Weah scored the only goal of the return in Munich.

Overall, PSG have six wins to Bayern’s eight with no draws.

 

Betting Tip

Our World Club Championship 2025 betting odds make the Parisiens slight favourites, priced 1X2 @ 2.20 compared to the Bavarians @ 2.82. The draw is on offer at an attractive @ 3.41.

If Asian Handicap betting is your preference, how about PSG -0.50 @ 2.20 or Bayern 0.00 @ 2.33.

Over 3.25 goals @ 2.17 suggests a tight affair with not too many goals, although that isn’t necessarily the case when you consider Total Goal 2-3 and 4-6 are on offer @ 2.13 and 2.64 respectively.

Total goal 0-1 @ 4.41 also caught my eye and I have been half expecting a Bayern victory but I can’t go beyond a PSG success as they look to add a maiden world crown to a European title.

   

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