Two semi-final first legs. Nine goals in one game. Two goals in the other. Somehow both ties are still alive. If you ever needed proof that the Champions League is the greatest competition in club football, this week just gave it to you on a silver platter.
Let me start with the one everybody is still talking about. Because honestly, I'm not sure I'll ever fully process what happened at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday night.
I genuinely don't know where to begin. I've watched a lot of football in my life. A LOT. And I'm not sure I've ever seen anything quite like this. Nine goals in a Champions League semi-final. The first time EVER that both teams scored four or more in a European semi. The joint-highest scoring semi-final in the entire history of the European Cup, matching Rangers 3-6 Eintracht Frankfurt from 1960. Nineteen sixty. We had to go back sixty-six years to find something comparable. That's how insane this was.
And the craziest part? It could have been more. Senny Mayulu hit the crossbar late on for PSG. Bayern had chances to make it 5-5. This game had absolutely zero interest in being sensible.
So here's how it went. Bayern actually started the better team. Luis Díaz was causing all sorts of problems down the left, Marquinhos got booked early for clattering into him, and then Willian Pacho made a clumsy challenge on Díaz in the box. Penalty. Kane steps up and buries it. His 54th goal of the season. Fifty-four. The man is genuinely absurd. He's scored in six consecutive Champions League matches now, which is apparently an English player record. At this point you run out of superlatives for Kane.
But here's the thing about this PSG team — they don't panic. Seven minutes after going behind, Kvaratskhelia picks up the ball on the left, does that little shimmy he does where he sends the defender to the shadow realm, cuts inside and curls one past Neuer. 1-1. That's six goals in his last six Champions League appearances for the Georgian. He's been the best player in the competition this season and it's honestly not even close.
Then João Neves — our João Neves, by the way, Portuguese and proud — rises for a header from a Dembélé corner and nods it in. 2-1 PSG. The kid already scored against Bayern in the group stage earlier this season. He clearly likes playing against them.
You'd think maybe the game would calm down a bit. Maybe take a breather. Nah. Michael Olise does that thing where he dances past three players in tight space and thunders one past Safonov. 2-2. The first half isn't even over yet and there have been four goals.
Then right before half-time, Dembélé's cross hits Alphonso Davies on the hip and then the arm. Penalty. Bayern were furious. Kompany (who was watching from the stands because he's suspended) apparently lost it. Davies was turning away, the ball hit his body first. But the referee gave it and Dembélé buried it. 3-2 PSG at half-time. Five goals in forty-five minutes. And somehow the second half managed to be even crazier.
PSG came out and scored twice in two minutes. TWO MINUTES. Kvaratskhelia tucked in Hakimi's cross to make it 4-2 on 56 minutes, and then Dembélé fired in his second at the near post on 58 minutes. 5-2. Game over, right? Final booked, right? Time to start planning for Budapest, right?
Wrong.
Bayern scored twice in three minutes. Upamecano headed in from a Kimmich free-kick to make it 5-3. Then Luis Díaz — who'd been brilliant all night — took down a long ball from Kane, turned Marquinhos inside out, and curled one into the far corner. 5-4. Just like that, a three-goal lead became one.
The last twenty minutes were absolute chaos. Both teams had chances. Mayulu hit the bar for PSG. Bayern pushed for the equalizer. But 5-4 is how it ended.
Five. Four. In a Champions League semi-final. In 2026.
Luis Enrique's post-match quote was perfect: "We deserved to win, we deserved to lose, we deserved to draw." He's not wrong. This was football at its most beautiful and most chaotic simultaneously. Dembélé got man of the match — two goals, one assist, involved in everything — but honestly you could have given it to about six different players on either team.
The second leg is next Wednesday at the Allianz Arena. PSG take a one-goal lead to Munich. And if that game is even HALF as entertaining as this one, we're in for something special. Kane said afterwards that he was proud of the fightback and that Bayern aren't done yet. Knowing this Bayern team, I believe him. This tie is far from over.
Oh, and one more stat that blew my mind: PSG scored with ALL FIVE of their shots on target. Five shots on target, five goals. That's never happened before in a Champions League knockout game. Manuel Neuer didn't make a single save the entire match. Not one. That's... I don't even know what to say about that.
Right, so after Tuesday's goal-fest, Wednesday was always going to feel different. And it did. Boy, did it ever.
If PSG-Bayern was a blockbuster action movie, Atlético-Arsenal was a tense thriller where the most dangerous weapon is a raised eyebrow. Two deeply organized, tactically disciplined teams who would rather eat glass than leave space in behind. Classic Simeone vs Arteta chess match. And the result — 1-1, both goals from penalties — feels about right for the kind of game this was.
Arsenal started well. Actually, they started very well. The first half was mostly played in Atlético's half, with the Gunners looking sharp and purposeful. Viktor Gyökeres, who's been unreal since joining Arsenal (I still can't believe Sporting let him go), was the focal point of everything good they did. He won the penalty himself on 44 minutes when Hancko shoved him in the back as he tried to get on the end of a through ball. VAR checked it, confirmed it, and Gyökeres sent Oblak the wrong way. 1-0 Arsenal at half-time.
You could see Arteta was happy with that. Go to Madrid, get the away goal, control the game, don't concede. Classic Arsenal away European performance. The problem is that Simeone is very, very good at half-time adjustments.
The second half was a completely different game. Atlético turned up the intensity about three notches and suddenly Arsenal were on the back foot. Julián Álvarez hit a free-kick into the side netting. Then he forced a save from Raya straight from a corner. Then Griezmann hit the crossbar on 64 minutes. It felt like the equalizer was coming and honestly it was just a matter of when.
When it came, it was another penalty. Gabriel Magalhães was done for handball — a decision that Arsenal will probably argue about for weeks — and Álvarez stepped up to convert. 1-1 on 56 minutes. The Metropolitano erupted. Simeone did his thing on the touchline. You know the one.
And then came the moment that will define the pre-match talk heading into the second leg. Arsenal thought they'd gotten a second penalty in the 81st minute when Hancko caught Eze after the ball had broken loose in the box. The referee pointed to the spot straight away. Arsenal players were already celebrating. But VAR called the ref to the monitor, he took another look, and waved it off. No penalty. Arsenal were livid. Arteta looked like he wanted to combust on the touchline.
Would it have changed the game? Maybe. Probably. Gyökeres had already scored one penalty, so you'd back him to convert a second. Instead of going back to London with a 2-1 lead and one foot in the final, Arsenal go home level. The margins in these games are ridiculous.
Griezmann got man of the match, which felt right. The guy is leaving Atlético at the end of the season to go to Orlando City in MLS, but he played tonight like a man who wants one more European final before he goes. His link-up play was silky, his movement was intelligent, and he came close to scoring himself when he hit the bar. He said afterwards that he wants to reach the final and that the second leg will be a great game. I believe him.
For Arsenal, the frustration will be about that overturned penalty. But if they're honest with themselves, they should be relatively satisfied. They went to the Metropolitano — one of the hardest grounds in Europe to get a result — and came away with a draw. The second leg is at the Emirates next Tuesday. Their fans will make it a cauldron. Saka is fit. Gyökeres is in the form of his life. If Arsenal can't beat this Atlético team at home, they don't deserve to be in the final.
For Atlético, this is exactly the kind of result Simeone would have taken before kick-off. A 1-1 draw at home in the first leg of a European semi is perfectly fine when you're Atlético Madrid.
They've been here before. They know how to suffer in away legs. They know how to nick a goal and then defend like their lives depend on it. Arsenal will have to be at their absolute best to break them down.
Both ties are beautifully poised but in completely different ways.
PSG lead Bayern 5-4 heading to Munich. If the second leg produces even a fraction of the goals the first one did, it'll be the highest-scoring Champions League knockout tie in history. Bayern need to win by two, or win by one and hope for extra time. Given they scored four away from home in the first leg, nobody is writing them off.
Atlético and Arsenal are level at 1-1 heading to the Emirates. This one feels like it'll be decided by one goal, possibly in the last ten minutes, possibly from a set piece. The margins are so thin between these two teams that it could genuinely go either way.
The final is in Budapest on May 30th at the Puskás Aréna. PSG are trying to become the first team to retain the Champions League since the competition was rebranded in 1992. Bayern haven't been in a final since 2020. Arsenal have never won it. Atlético have never won it either.
Someone's dream is going to come true. Someone else's is going to be crushed. That's the Champions League for you.
Second legs next week. I genuinely cannot wait.
Right, my predictions. And yes, I'm probably going to look like an idiot in a week.
I'm going to do something I usually avoid because it always comes back to bite me. I'm going to tell you what I think is going to happen. Feel free to screenshot this and throw it back in my face next Wednesday.
Here's my take and I know a lot of people will disagree with me: I think PSG go through, but I think they're going to suffer in Munich. Like, really suffer.
Bayern scored four goals away from home. FOUR. At the Parc des Princes, against the defending champions. That's not a team that's beaten. That's a team that smells blood. And the Allianz Arena is a fortress — you don't go there and have a quiet night. Kane is going to come out with murder in his eyes. Olise is going to run at that PSG left side again because Nuno Mendes had an absolute nightmare in the first leg. And Kompany will be back on the touchline this time, which matters more than people think.
But here's the thing. PSG have something Bayern don't: Kvaratskhelia in this form. The man is playing the best football of his life. He's unplayable when he's on it, and right now he's on it every single week. If PSG score even once in Munich — and they will, because this team always scores on the road — Bayern need three. Three goals against the team that just scored five against you. Can they do it? Yes. Will they? I don't think so.
My gut says Bayern win the second leg 3-2 but PSG go through 7-7 on aggregate with away goals. Wait, there's no away goals rule anymore. OK so that means extra time and then... honestly I have no idea. Let me just say PSG go through after extra time. Something like 3-1 to Bayern on the night, 6-7 on aggregate. Kvaratskhelia scores in the second half when Bayern are throwing everything forward and that kills the tie.
Or Bayern win 4-1 and knock PSG out and I look like a complete fool. That's equally possible. This tie is genuinely 50/50 and anyone who tells you they know what's going to happen is lying.
If I had to bet actual money though? PSG. Because Luis Enrique's teams just find a way. They did it against Liverpool in the quarters. They did it in last year's final against Inter. They bend, they wobble, they concede more goals than a team of their quality should, but they don't break. Not when it matters.
This one is easier for me. I think Arsenal go through and I think they go through relatively comfortably. There, I said it.
Look, I know Simeone's record in away legs is ridiculous. I know Atlético have this supernatural ability to go somewhere hostile, score a scrappy goal from a corner and then defend like it's the Battle of Thermopylae for 70 minutes. I know all of this. But I also know that this Arsenal team is different from the ones that have bottled it in the past.
Gyökeres changes everything. Before him, Arsenal's problem in big European games was always the same — they'd dominate, create chances, not score, and then get punished. Gyökeres doesn't miss those chances. The guy has scored in virtually every big game since he signed. He scored at the Metropolitano from the spot without blinking. He'll score at the Emirates too. I'd put money on it.
And then there's the overturned penalty factor. Arsenal are going into this second leg angry. Arteta is angry. The players are angry. Eze was fouled, everyone saw it, and the VAR took it away. Whether it was the right call or not doesn't matter — Arsenal feel robbed, and angry Arsenal at the Emirates is not something you want to face. Ask Manchester City. Ask Liverpool. Ask anyone who's been there when the crowd is absolutely bouncing and Rice is running through midfield like a man possessed.
My prediction: Arsenal 2-0. Gyökeres opens the scoring in the first half, someone like Saka or Eze gets the second after the 70th minute when Atlético are chasing the game and leaving gaps they usually never leave. Griezmann has a chance to equalize at some point and either hits the post again or Raya saves it. Simeone gets sent off for losing his head on the touchline. Arsenal reach their first Champions League final since 2006 and the Emirates loses its collective mind.
The only thing that worries me about Arsenal is that they tend to make things harder than they need to be. The Sporting quarter-final was 1-0 on aggregate. One-nil! Against a Sporting team that was clearly in crisis. That's not the sign of a team that's going to waltz past Atlético. But sometimes being clinical and boring is exactly what you need in Europe. And Arsenal are very, very good at boring.
PSG vs Arsenal in Budapest on May 30th. Kvaratskhelia vs Saka. Luis Enrique vs Arteta. The student against the master. France vs England in everything but name.
And if it's Bayern vs Atlético instead? Well, that's why they play the games and not just let journalists make predictions on blogs. We'd get everything wrong every single time.
Bring on next week. I'll either look like a genius or delete this entire section and pretend it never happened.
