This Tuesday at 9 p.m. (CET), Paris Saint-Germain (1st) will face Bayern Munich (2nd) at the Parc des Princes in the 4th matchday of the 2025–2026 UEFA Champions League. Ahead of the clash, Bayern coach Vincent Kompany spoke in a press conference about the match and his view of the Parisian side.
Kompany: “It’s a real challenge to overcome.”
What’s the recipe to beat PSG?
“I don’t know! You have to believe, because we’re playing against the European champions, who remain one of the favorites this season. It’s definitely a challenge to overcome. We have to believe in our chances. We learned a lot from playing them last season, and we’ve learned even more this year. We’ve spent hours preparing for this match, and honestly, it’s a pleasure to analyze the football of such a team.”
Kompany: “It’s going to be an intense match.”
What impresses you most about PSG’s game?
“It’s their collective spirit, their willingness to run — in possession and after losing the ball. When PSG are in full flow, there’s no point focusing on one player in particular. That’s not their main strength. PSG have always had world-class individuals, but now their biggest strength is the collective — that’s what makes this game so fascinating. It’s going to be intense; both teams have great quality, and it’ll come down to small details.”
Kompany: “What makes them stronger is that they play as a team.”
How do you plan to contain Nuno Mendes?
“There’s still an individual dimension at PSG — you can mention Mendes, Hakimi, or Dembélé, the Ballon d’Or winner. The list goes on. But what makes them stronger is that they play as a team. Mendes benefits from that. He’s very good in open spaces, especially against sides that play on equal terms. Matches like this help him grow. We also have our own strengths — players who thrive in such environments.”
Kompany: “PSG were already very strong in 2024.”
Do you consider this your biggest challenge as a coach, facing a team that’s improved so much?
“If you only looked at the results last season, PSG were struggling a bit in the Champions League but dominant in Ligue 1. But if you watched the games, you could see a team that controlled every match and deserved to win most of them — the results didn’t reflect their progress. PSG were already very strong in 2024. They’ve got young players, which is an advantage — they’re still learning and improving together. Facing them, the margins are always tiny. They’re evolving constantly, and we’re trying to do the same.”
Kompany: “The way Luis Enrique has transformed the club is impressive.”
What do you think of Luis Enrique’s work?
“PSG is a club with a revolutionary idea, and he’s managed to implement it using young players. Even those he’s brought in are already good and will be excellent in five or six years. You can talk tactics all you want, but it’s not easy to change so many things — especially when he was criticized at the start. When they lost to us last November, he was under fire from the French media, and now he’s regarded as the best coach! It’s a great story. The way Luis Enrique has transformed the team and evolved the club is truly impressive.”
Analysis
Luis Enrique’s PSG has achieved something rare in Europe: universal respect. In just over a year, the Spaniard has turned a club long seen as unstable into a tactical benchmark. The conversation is no longer about star power — it’s about a system where every piece serves a purpose and every pressing movement has intent.
Kompany summed it up well: facing PSG means facing an idea — a mature, disciplined collective. The Bavarians know that this battle will not be about prestige, but about passing patterns, spatial awareness, and resistance to PSG’s relentless pressure.
On Tuesday night, the Parc des Princes will host a footballing chess match — Bayern’s tactical discipline against Paris’s technical mastery and fluidity.
A duel of philosophies between two of modern football’s most respected models.
All eyes are on Paris to see whether this Champions League version of PSG, ruthless and spectacular (18 goals in their last four matches), will once again sweep aside Europe’s elite.
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