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The state-owned football team it’s OK to like (and proof that sportswashing works), Paris Saint-Germain booked their place in Bigger Cup final courtesy of a draw against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena. Like Shaun Murphy in Monday’s night’s thrilling denouement of the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre, the German champions didn’t do a great deal wrong and were similarly gracious in defeat despite their obvious disappointment. “The level of both teams was very, very high,” sighed Vincent Kompany as he ruminated on his team’s exit. “PSG have so much quality, they’ve probably been the best team in Europe in the last two years.” A team that is currently so good it was forced to replace deadweight no-marks such as Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi and Neymar to finally shed their tag as Bigger Cup nearlymen and bottlers, the willingness of their replacements to do the dirty work of defending played no small part in helping PSG get over the line.
For all their graciousness in defeat, Bayern’s departure from the tournament wasn’t entirely unclouded by rancour. It was understandable considering that ultimately, they were diddled by a PSG penalty in the first leg that should never have been awarded. On Wednesday Bayern felt further aggrieved by two more handball decisions that didn’t go their way, one of which turned out to be entirely correct and an initial one that still doesn’t look entirely incorrect after multiple viewings. “It’s astonishing, to say the least, that a referee with only 15 [Bigger Cup] appearances is allowed to take charge of such a match,” parped Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen of Portuguese referee João Pinheiro’s performance. “And that perhaps also explains some of the decisions.”
