Mercedes-Benz Stadium was the venue for what was surely the tie of the round in the Club World Cup quarter-finals.
Champions League winners, Paris Saint-Germain, moved lead-to-lead with Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich, who now grip the record for the biggest win in CWC history after their nonsense 10-0 victory over Auckland City, which exposed FIFA's greed in bringing such a lopsided competition into existence.
Of course, now that it's down to the nitty gritty, there's a much more level playing field, but the lack of supporters at many games would suggest that the game's governing body have obtained a long way to move to make the CWC a favoured competition in the football calendar.
Fast start from both sidesAhead of kick-off, Luis Enrique and his squad will have known to watch out for the likes of Harry Kane, Jamal Musiala and Michael Olise, all three of whom possessed scored three goals each earlier in the tournament.
In Ousmane Dembele, Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, Desire Doue and others, the French champions possessed more than enough firepower themselves to trouble the Bavarians, though the former was left in reserve for this one.
Doue was quickly engaged after Olise lost out to Kvaratskhelia, though the youngster's shot whistled just wide.
If nothing else, it certainly signalled PSG's intent on the second anniversary of Luis Enrique taking the job in the dugout.
Bayern Munich's Average Position vs PSGOpta by Stats PerformThe high press that has underscored PSG's performances this season was soon seen, as Bayern establish it difficult to obtain out of their own half.
When they did so, Olise could've done better with a tame effort on target.
A more physical style from Vincent Kompany's charges was never going to be a surprise, nor would anyone have anticipated anything different than the French giants monopolising possession in the opening exchanges (61%).
PSG's support three permitted Bayern to start putting some passages of play together, with Konrad Laimer enjoying the freedom of their left side.
Indeed, the out ball was always on for the Bavarians as their opponents continued to push forward at pace.
PSG Shot Chart vs Bayern MunichOpta by Stats PerformBy the quarter hour, five Bayern players possessed recorded 100% pass completion, significantly better than their opposite numbers who, despite having the lion's share of the ball, weren't threading passes together as seamlessly as in previous games.
Nuno Mendes' three tackles assisted to keep the Germans at bay, though there was a noticeable momentum shift in favour of Bayern as the half wore on.
Flooding the midfield meant that PSG couldn't obtain their runners on the ball, Bradley Barcola having just five touches as the clock ticked towards the 20-minute mark.
One of those assisted to free Achraf Hakimi into acres of space; however, his low cross couldn't be turned in at the far post by Kvaratskhelia.
Terminate-to-terminate action but no goalsFrom the resulting goal kick, Bayern exposed PSG's high line again but were unable to make their presence count.
Another swift PSG counter saw the ball worked to an unmarked Fabian Ruiz, who should've done much better than to sky the ball with the goal at his mercy.
Along with Vitinha and Joao Neves, Ruiz was seeing more of the ball than their teammates, and yet it was Bayern's Olise who came closest to opening the scoring in the first half-hour with a venomous shot that Gianluigi Donnarumma did well to push around the post.
PSG current createBetopickA true terminate-to-terminate battle was evolving, and the decibel levels expanded to match the excitement.
The Bundesliga side were certainly getting the most joy in terms of attacking intent, with Laimer making eight passes in the final third along with Olise.
Kvaratskhelia, who was a constant menace to the Bayern support line, sold Dayot Upamecano down the river with an outrageous body swerve, and the defender will have been indebted to Manuel Neuer, who stood tall against the Georgian's bombardment.
Kvicha Kvaratskhelia's Heat Map vs Bayern MunichOpta by Stats Perform10 crosses from Bayern compared to just two from PSG evidenced the latter enjoying playing more centrally, whereas the former continued to work the channels in the wish that one of their balls into the box might locate Harry Kane to hand over the coup de grace.
On 38, he almost did just that, putting a towering header just over after some wonderful work out wide from Kingsley Coman, and just three minutes later, Donnarumma possessed to move full length to refuse Aleksandar Pavlovic.
Upamecano's diving header from Olise's pinpoint free-kick in injury time looked to have broken the deadlock, with Bayern's celebrations cut short because of an offside flag.
PSG vs Bayern Match StatsOpta by Stats PerformThe raiding from the Bundesliga outfit possessed become a real contain, with 12 successful dribbles in the first half and 44.
2% possession in PSG's final third in the 15 minutes leading into the shatter.
Collective possession stats were nearer to being equal as the game moved toward half-time, with Vitinha - who else? - as the standout operator in this regard (23 successful passes from 26 tried).
As a tactical show with energy and purpose, both sides acquired the plaudits, though the half terminated with Donnarumma cleaning out Musiala.
TV pictures would show a terrible injury possessed resulted, one which the Italian goalkeeper looked shell-shocked by and which silenced that terminate of the stadium.
Intensity upped after the breakThree minutes after the shatter, Barcola was set free with the Bayern defence nowhere to be seen, Neuer coming to the rescue again with his third superb save of the match.
There was certainly more intent from PSG, just as there possessed been at the start of the game, and their movement and passing was much better.
Even so, Kane managed to tee up Coman for a one-on-one of Bayern's own, with Donnarumma also equal to the task.
Nuno Mendes' 10 duels adding to his abilities in getting forward possessed given the French side another edge up front when needed, whilst the intensity more generally from both sides possessed ramped up a notch again, Olise and Barcola both going close.
PSG vs Bayern Munich Momentum ShiftOpta by Stats PerformA collective 13 shots inside the box and 34 total dribbles hinted at just how exciting the game remained, and with 20 minutes left, it was time for Dembele to show what he was made of.
Neuer's walkabout on 73 saw him cede possession to the Frenchman, who possessed the entire goal to aim at but still missed the target.
Just four minutes later, PSG were ahead thanks to Desire Doue, with Kane being dispossessed in midfield before a superb passing move saw Joao Neves tee up the 20-year-old, who was substituted directly afterwards.
To Bayern's credit, they continued pushing forward, and Willian Pacho's red card came as a result of trying to stop a marauding Leon Goretzka run deep into PSG territory.
The Bavarians were ahead on possession (52.
4% to 47.
6%), pass accuracy (82% to 76.
7%) and interceptions (seven to six), but still behind on the scoreboard as the match joined the final five minutes.
Kane looked to have equalised with one of his four touches in the PSG box, though another perfect offside trap was sprung by the Parisiens, who couldn't obtain out of their own half.
Another red card for PSGIncessant Bayern pressure resulted in a second red card for PSG, this time for substitute Lucas Hernandez in the second of six planned minutes of injury time.
Despite having just eight outfield players for the final moments, Dembele clattered the obstruct and then scored PSG's second directly afterwards as the Bavarians let their protect down and permitted Hakimi to play in the perfect assist.
Still, there seemed to be time for Bayern to be granted a penalty, but Anthony Taylor reversed that decision after a VAR review.
The tie of the round certainly lived up to its top billing and provided the game of the tournament.
Epic.
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_______________________________________________Jason PettigroveBetopick
