The French team, Paris Saint-Germain, seeks on Tuesday to maintain its chances of qualifying for the European Champions League final when it meets German Bayern Munich, in the first leg of the European semi-final. Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid will face Arsenal on Wednesday, in a match in which both will seek to find a comfortable lead before the return match, hoping to grab the European final ticket and achieve the dream of the first title for the two ancient clubs.

Published on: 04/27/2026 - 14:32 Last updated: 04/28/2026 - 12:21

To view this content from YouTube, it is necessary to allow the collection of viewing rates and YouTube ads.

It appears that an application in your Internet browser is preventing the video player from loading. In order to view this content, you must cancel its use.

Paris Saint-Germain of France and Bayern Munich of Germany will begin the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals on Tuesday. The first is seeking to maintain its European title, while the second is considered the most nominated to win the competition title for the seventh time in its history, in light of the wonderful performance of the team of Belgian coach Vincent Kompany.

The Bavarian giant emerged victorious in the last five Champions League matches against the Qatari-owned team, but the latter eliminated them with two goals in the quarter-finals of the Club World Cup last summer.

Read also: Champions League: matches, results and analysis

Kompany explained the importance of the confrontation after securing the domestic league title for the 35th time, saying, “Paris in the Champions League, as the defending champion, is probably the most difficult challenge. I do not want to stop here. Now come the crucial weeks. We are looking forward to them, but we also know how difficult they are.”

His midfielder, Joshua Kimmich, added, "We reached the semi-finals with two wins (over Real Madrid). I believe that the best teams in Europe are now preparing to meet in the semi-finals."

The matches have always been exciting between the two sides, which have the strongest attack in the current version (38 goals), and have witnessed several cases of expulsion in recent years.

The last duel between them in the unified group stage ended with Bayern winning 2-1. Spaniard Luis Enrique, coach of Saint-Germain, whose team leads the French League by six points over Lens, said, four matches before the end of the competitions and eliminated Liverpool from the quarter-finals (2-0, 2-0). “Last season, everyone thought that we could not win the Champions League because we are a very young team. Now everyone knows that we are the champions, but we need to develop. This is our goal.”

In turn, his striker, Ousmane Dembélé, the best player in the world last season, said, “I think we are at the same level (as last season). We have this desire to win titles. We will try to go until the end, and we will play our style until the end of the tournament.”

"We know our strength and weakness"

In the second confrontation, which takes place on Wednesday, Spain's Atletico Madrid will meet England's Arsenal.

Arsenal, the runner-up in 2006, has a moral superiority over Atletico Madrid, after defeating it 4-0 in the group stage in October, but this will not be enough in the continental competition in which Atletico, the runner-up in 1974, 2014 and 2016, achieved a resounding surprise by eliminating its compatriot Barcelona in the quarter-finals (2-0, 1-2).

Atletico coach Diego Simeone said, "We know our strengths and our weaknesses. We have great confidence in what we are doing. We are ready and will pursue what we have been chasing for many years."

While Atletico has a remarkable offensive force (34 goals), Arsenal is distinguished by its strong defense, which conceded only five times in 12 matches, in its last continental stop against Sporting of Portugal in the quarter-finals (1-0, 0-0).

As for Arsenal, after topping the English Premier League by a large margin, it declined as usual in recent seasons, and Manchester City became the most likely to be deprived of the local title, as the latter trails them by three points with a postponed match.

Spanish "Gunners" coach Mikel Arteta said about reaching the semi-finals for the second time in a row, "It is the first time in our history, in 140 years. To be among these four teams is very special. You have to deserve it."

His Brazilian striker Gabriel Martinelli added, "We beat them in the league stage, but the match this time will be completely different."

France 24/AFP

Keywords related to the article

The content you want to browse is no longer in service or is currently unavailable.