Bayern Munich rally but PSG edge breathless Champions League classic
MAN O WAR: Paris Saint-Germain's Portuguese midfielder Joao Neves celebrates with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (L) and Desire Doue (R) after scoring his side's second goal in a Champions League semi-final first leg thriller against Paris Saint-Germain at Parc des Princes. Pic: Franck Fife, Getty Images)
IT really should have been the final, shouldn't it?
With all due respect to Arsenal and Atletico Madrid, the best two sides in Europe went twinkle-toe to twinkle-toe in the French capital and it wasn't so much the beautiful game, more fantasy football - and then some.
It's safe to say defences weren't on top as both clubs performed passable impressions of a footballing version of the Harlem Globetrotters. You score, we score.
Almost lost among the goal-laden carnage, Harry Kane became the first Englishman to score in six successive Champions League goals with a scarcely believable 54th goal of the season from the penalty spot early on, his opening goal the prelude to a game you simply couldn't take your eyes off, even if some of the defending was better watched from behind your fingers.
It's safe to say whatever the other two semi-finalists produce in Madrid on Wednesday, they will have some way to go to live up to this goal-fest.
And yet it all started off so sedately.
The contest had been strangely devoid of goalmouth action before it belatedly roared into life as the sides traded five goals in a breathless half hour, started when Kane was afforded the kind of opportunity to break the deadlock he rarely refuses.
A swift counter-attack caught the hosts short of numbers at the back and when the ball found its way into the box, from Michael Olise's deft touch, Luis Diaz looked certain to score until his feet were taken from him by William Pacho's clumsy challenge.
There was an air of inevitability as Kane stepped up from 12 yards to send Matvey Safonov the wrong way to convert the 37th of his 39 Bayern penalties.
Olise should have almost immediately doubled the advantage from Kane's pass, but with just Safonov to beat, his shot was partially blocked by the Russian keeper before Marquinhos hacked the ball clear as it trickled towards goal.
It proved to be a costly miss. The lead lasted seven minutes when, from a Desire Doue pass down the left, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia burst into the Bayern area to cut inside Josep Stanisic before picking out the far corner with a precision finish past Manuel Neuer.
Olise almost made amends for his earlier miss when some mesmeric dribbling down the right saw Marquinhos divert the Bayern forward's cut-back against his own post.
The attacking mayhem continued as the holders surged into the lead. From a 33rd-minute corner, Joao Neves, arguably the smallest player on the pitch, arrived at the near post to send a powerful glancing header beyond Neuer as the hosts benefitted from Bayern opting not to have a man on the far post.
Four minutes before the interval it proved third time lucky for Olise, who was given space on the edge of the area to fire in a shot which beat Safonov for pace as it hit the roof of the net in a blur.
There was still time for the hosts to retake the lead from the penalty spot after the intervention of VAR. Neuer guessed the right way, but Ousmane Dembele's low shot had too much power after Alphonso Davies was harshly adjudged to have handled the Frenchman's cross.
It seemed an age before the next goal arrived, but it was only 10 minutes into the second half when the hosts doubled their lead. Yet more high-octane attacking play released Achraf Hakimi down the right and the full-back's low ball across the box found its way to Kvaratskhelia to guide home his side's fourth from a dozen yards.
The fifth arrived before the hour, Dembele wrong-footing Neuer with a clever near-post finish for his second of the night and sixth of the European campaign.
Of course, there had to be another twist, and Bayern provided two of them in the final 25 minutes to ensure the second leg remains on a nine-goal knife-edge.
French defender Dayot Upamecano glanced home a Joshua Kimmich free-kick to reduce the deficit before Luis Diaz thumped home his side's fourth from 10 yards to leave Bayern with slightly less of a mountain to climb in the foothills of the Alps next Wednesday.
Safonov; Hakimi, Marquinhos, Pacho, Nuno Mendes (Hernandez 84); Zaire-Emery (Ruiz 64), Vitinha, Joao Neves; Doue (Barcola 70), Dembele, Kvaratskhelia (Mayulu 84). Booked: Marquinhos, Ruiz.
Neuer; Stanisic, Upamecano, Tah, Davies (Laimer 46); Kimmich, Pavlovic (Jackson 90); Olise, Musiala (Goretzka 79), Diaz; Kane.
Sandro Scharer (Switzerland).
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