It cannot always be a laugh a minute. Paris Saint-Germain will play Arsenal in the Champions League final and they made sure of that by getting serious, nullifying an off-key Bayern Munich and rarely wobbling after adding to their first-leg lead. Luis Enrique’s team should have won by more in a match that did not, and probably never could, hit the previous week’s heights but their triumph was underpinned by an aptitude for the dirtier work that would serve them well in Budapest.
Ousmane Dembélé’s emphatic third-minute finish seemed to have ended this semi-final’s goalfest and the regret for Vincent Kompany will be that Bayern were a yard short of their sharpest all night. It could have been different if one of their openings before the break, Jamal Musiala spurning the best, had gone in but Harry Kane’s added-time goal came far too late.
Kompany had urged any Bayern fans feeling less than fighting fit to hand their ticket to somebody capable of making a din. A raging red fever had spread here nonetheless, the Südkurve in situ 45 minutes before kick-off and bouncing to the repertoire of club anthems, each rendition headier than the last and not a scarf permitted to sag. There had been an electricity around Munich, a city perfectly given to the big event, all day and it was not confined to those declaring an interest.
