After beating Olympique de Lyon 3-0, Bayern Munich won the Champions League’s top competition. On Sunday, they will face Paris Saint-Germain to win the festival for the sixth time and secure the hat-trick in the club’s history. Alphonso Davies, meanwhile, has become the first player of the Canadian national team to triumph in the last of the festival.
“For me, it’s a dream come true,” Davies told BT Sport after the game. “Play in the Champions League and reach the final. That’s all you can ask for. It feels good, everyone is satisfied and they play well. We are pleased to have reached the final. These guys have won it all quite a bit and they’re still there.” Excited. They are still hungry to win this.”
The 19-year-old has enjoyed a meteoric rise since arriving at Bayern Munich in January 2019; the club signed with the Canadian last summer, but due to FIFA regulations he was unable to complete the move until Davies turned 18 in November. Back in Vancouver, the Whitecaps will cross hands for Davies to win the trophy, the Aspect of Major League Soccer will get a $1.1 million bonus if Davies wins the Champions League with Bayern.
For Bayern, it would be a payment they could pay without problems. In fact, the young Canadian has a rare find. Signed for just $11 million, Davies now has a value of $66 million, according to Transfermarkt. But the PSG will provide a significant check for Davies. Although Davies did a fair job against Lionel Messi in the quarter-finals on Sunday, the Canadian can face even greater control when confronted by PSG’s Kylian Mbappé.
“Paris is a smart team,” Davies said. For now, we’re celebrating a little bit and then we’ll focus on the next game. It’s going to be a smart game, there’s going to be goals. That’s what you dream of as a footballer: betting against the most productive groups in Europe. I’m overexcited.”
Head coach Hansi Flick agreed with Davies’ assessment of PSG. “Paris is a wonderful team, they reached the semi-final and then reached the final,” Flick said after the match. “Let’s look at some things, we know they have fast players. We will try to organize our defense, but we know that our greatest strength is to put pressure on our conflicting parties.”
Flick, in fact, was quick to draw attention to the flaws of his own field. “We know we have to protect better, we said we couldn’t give the ball away easily, but we did,” Flick said. Flick’s ability to temporarily refocus the team on the top issues was one of the main reasons for his success.
“The tranquility that emanates distinguishes it,” said Bayern Munich captain Manuel Neuer. “We are well prepared no matter what team we face. You can see the effects on the ground.” But despite the humility of his coach, Neuer is confident that this Bayern can go all the way and win the title.
“We have a bigger team than we had in 2013 in terms of depth,” Neuer said. “We have players of elegance beyond the 18-player team. It’s the team we have.” A Bayern Munich team that includes a 19-year-old Canadian, who on Sunday can be part of Canada’s local football history books.
Manuel Veth is the editor-in-chief of Futbolgrad Network and Area Manager USA at Transfermarkt. He has also been to The Guardian, Newsweek, Howler, Pro Soccer USA and various other media. Follow him on Twitter: @ManuelVeth