Close the Trapdoor: will Safonov help PSG get to the Champions League final

PSG will play their first Champions League semi-final match against Bayern Munich this week. For the Paris club, this is another attempt to confirm its status as one of the leaders of European football, and for Matvey Safonov, perhaps, the main exam of the season. The Russian will not only have to help the team reach the finals, but also finally gain a foothold in the status of number one by winning the competition from Luca Chevalier. Safonov's future at PSG may depend on how he performs against one of Europe's most powerful clubs.

Safonov in the Champions League

Matvey Safonov already won the Champions League last year with PSG, but as a reserve for Gianluigi Donnarumma. In that draw, the 27-year-old goalkeeper played two matches in the tournament in the group stage, but the star Italian played all the other games. However, in the off-season, he moved to Manchester City, and the Parisian club acquired Luc Chevalier from Lille.

In the first half of this season, it was the 24-year-old Frenchman who was PSG's main goalkeeper, but since December Safonov has started to have chances. First, due to Chevalier's injury, the Russian played two matches in the French championship, and then brought his club victory in the Intercontinental Cup, beating off four penalties in the post-match series (2:1) with Brazilian Flamengo. However, as a result of this bright match, Matvey could not oust Luke from the base, as he was out for one month due to a broken arm.

But by the end of January, it became clear that Chevalier was not very reliable. And after returning from injury, Safonov started playing in the main squad again. Since then, he has not given up his place on the field. Our goalkeeper has been at the heart of the last 13 matches in the French championship and practically helped PSG win another gold in the country.

With four games to go, the capital club is six points ahead of its main pursuer Lance. Interestingly, at the time of Matvey's appearance at the start, the two leaders of Ligue 1 were almost on a par. In the Champions League, Safonov invariably enters the field throughout the current playoffs, having passed Monaco." (3:2; 2:2), Chelsea London" (5:2; 3:0) and Liverpool" (2:0; 2:0). In the last two matches of the French championship, at home with Nantes (3-0) and away with Angers (3-0), the Russian also went without conceding goals.

In total, Safonov played 11 out of 22 matches in both tournaments this season with zero goals in his own goal. He has more dry matches than Chevalier, despite the fact that our player has played fewer matches than the Frenchman — he has 26 games. In addition, Luke also conceded more goals: he has 28 goals against Matthew's 20.

"I've always believed in Safonov," striker Moses Kobnan, Matvey's partner at Krasnodar the season before last, told Izvestia. — When he played in Krasnodar, Matvey was a wonderful person and goalkeeper, he made wonderful saves. And the fact that he is now in the position of PSG's main goalkeeper speaks volumes. I was sure of him.

Bayern Munich is the favorite of the semifinals

PSG and Bayern have been dominating their respective countries in about the same way for the last 15 years. However, this has been typical for the latter since the early 1970s. But since the first half of the last decade, the Bundesliga has been dominated by the Munich club. Since 2012, he has lost gold only once, the season before last to Bayer Leverkusen.

Otherwise, of the last 14 championships, 13 have been held by Bayern. On April 19, she became the winner of the current draw ahead of schedule, having resolved the issue with the trophy four rounds before the end. And now he can focus on the Champions League.

PSG began to win regularly domestically after 2011, when Qatar Sports Investments acquired a controlling stake in the club.

Since 2012, PSG has only twice failed to take the championship in France. It is highly likely that the team will have another gold medal in the first half of May.

Interestingly, Bayern won their last Champions League victory in 2020, beating the Parisian club in the final, for which last year's triumph was the first in its history in this tournament. The Munich team has been led for the second season by Vincent Kompany, a former Manchester City and Belgium star defender, and now one of the best young coaches in Europe.

He previously worked at Anderlecht in Belgium, but he attracted the attention of the continent's top clubs after two seasons at Burnley in England. In 2023, the Company took him from the Championship to the Premier League, and then kept the poor club in the strongest national championship on the planet. After that, he was called by Bayern, with whom the 40-year-old specialist won two German championships and returned the team to the top of the Bundesliga after it was moved from there by Bayer.

Bayern still has several players who won the Champions League with them six years ago, including its long-time captain Manuel Neuer. In addition, Englishman Harry Kane, one of the strongest strikers in the world over the past 10 years, has been playing for the German club for the third season.

This spring, at the quarterfinal stage, Munich knocked out one of the tournament's favorites, Real Madrid, from the Champions League." (2:1; 4:3). It will be one of the most difficult opponents for PSG.

— Two favorites will meet in this semi-final. I think the winner of this pair will win the tournament as a whole. It's even a shame that these two rivals are meeting now, and not in the final, but the draw ordered it that way," Sergei Kiryakov, a former striker for German Karlsruhe, told Izvestia. — I would call Bayern the favorite — it looks very good this season, won the championship ahead of schedule, passed Real Madrid. She resembles her best models under the Company: good defense, excellent flanks, and at the forefront of the attack, Kane is one of the strongest attackers on the planet. Not to mention such a legend among goalkeepers as Neuer. These two semifinal matches will be a great test for Safonov. He has never had such rivals before. Bayern Munich is much higher than the current level of Liverpool. So Matthew will have a lot of work to do. He's doing well to be winning the Chevalier competition right now, but if he can't help PSG win, he might get questions as the number one. If Bayern succeed in passing, Safonov will definitely go down in the history of the club and will apply for a long-term position as the main goalkeeper of one of the strongest teams in Europe.

The first match of both teams will be held in Paris on April 28. It starts at 20:00 Moscow time. The second leg will be played in Munich on May 6. In the other semi-final match, Atletico will face Arsenal. The final will be held on May 30 in Budapest.