Paris Saint-Germain have it all to do to avoid elimination from the Champions League after losing 1-0 to Bayern Munich.
The Ligue 1 leaders started the night 25th in the new league phase table – a position which would see them exit Europe altogether if things don’t improve – and could drop a couple of places if results go against them on Wednesday.
To make matters worse for PSG, they won’t have Ousmane Dembele available for their next Champions League clash against RB Salzburg next month after he was sent off – somewhat harshly – for two bookable offences and therefore must serve a one-game suspension.
The only goal of the game from Bayern came shortly before half-time as Matvei Safonov – starting instead of Gianluigi Donnarumma in goal for PSG – was unable to claim Joshua Kimmich’s in-swinging corner and his mistake left Kim Min-jae with a straightforward header from close range.
Bayern did have a couple of chances to increase their tally but Jamal Musiala was denied by a stunning save from Safonov while Kingsley Coman as well as substitutes Michael Olise, Serge Gnabry and Thomas Muller all wasted decent chances.
As a result, the Bundesliga giants have boosted their chances of a top-eight finish which would see them qualify for the last 16 automatically and they face Shakhtar Donetsk, Feyenoord and Slovan Bratislava in their final three fixtures of the league phase.
Meanwhile, with fixtures against Salzburg, Manchester City and Stuttgart to come, PSG know they have little margin for error left if they are to continue in Europe after January.
