UEFA Champions League fans were treated to one for the ages on Tuesday as twin goliaths Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich produced one of the most exciting displays of attacking football ever witnessed in the knockout phase of the competition.
On a truly dizzying night in the French capital, Bayern fell 5-2 behind at one point before clawing their way back to 5-4 ahead of the return leg in Germany next Wednesday.
While most onlookers were left breathless and in awe of what they’d just witnessed, the two opposing managers processed the game in very different ways: PSG coach Luis Enrique effusively branded the match “the best I have ever been involved in as a coach” while Bayern boss Vincent Kompany, who was forced to watch the game from the stands due to a touchline ban, grumbled that it was “no fun” for him.
“If it never happens again, I’ll be satisfied,” Kompany told Prime Video. “I can’t take decisions 80 meters away. But I appreciated the way the players responded, from high up in the stands.”
Kompany obviously didn’t enjoy having to watch on from afar after delegating pitchside coaching duties to his assistant, Aaron Danks. Thankfully, the Bayern boss had softened ever so slightly by the time he bumped into his PSG counterpart in the media zone as the pair were doing their rounds of postmatch TV interviews.
Indeed, after watching their respective sides put on a scintillating nine-goal extravaganza at the Parc des Princes, the pair were able to share a light-hearted moment.
While Kompany did not enjoy experiencing the game from a distance, Luis Enrique regularly opts to watch his team from up in the stands in order to gain an elevated perspective of the action, a trick he picked up from rugby union coaches.
This led to an amusing exchange between the two managers when they met and shared a hearty handshake and moment of mutual respect after the game.
“You were in my position, up there! Did you like it?” Luis Enrique asked as Kompany arrived in the media zone.
“No, I didn’t,” replied the Bayern boss. “I really don’t like it.”
While his side may be trailing on aggregate heading into the second leg, the good news for Kompany is that he will be free to return to his favoured coaching position on the touchline when Bayern welcome PSG to the Allianz Arena.
Who knows? Should Luis Enrique deign that an elevated position might be necessary for the occasion, we might even see the two coaches swapping locations entirely.
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