Tale of two cities: ‘Sensational’ for Bayern Munich fans, sadness and tear gas in Paris

Fans celebrated Bayern
Munich’s Champions League final win in a socially-distanced open-air cinema in
the Bavarian city on Sunday.

Almost 700km away in
Paris, health protocols went out of the window as 5,000 fans gathered at the
Parc des Princes to see their team lose the final in Lisbon 1-0. In Munich, a
large police presence was deployed to enforce, as much as possible, the
restrictions linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, with fines for offenders during
the match.

Also read: Football world reacts to Bayern’s sixth Champions League win

Screenings of the game
in fan zones were prohibited.

So many fans fell back
on the cafes of the city centre or at an open-air cinema near the former
Olympic stadium in Munich, where Bayern played for several decades, before
taking up residence at the Allianz Arena.

This site can normally
accommodate up to 2,000 spectators for screenings.

Due to the
coronavirus, however, there were only around 500 watching the game on Sunday.

‘Champions!
Champions!” chanted fans after the club’s sixth triumph in Europe’s
biggest tournament.

On the final whistle,
the main Leopoldstrasse avenue was filled with cars in the colours of the city
club, while supporters waved Bayern flags.

Also read: In pics: Bayern Munich seal 6th Champions League crown with 1-0 win over PSG

“Really great for
the city of Munich, it’s sensational,” said Tobias Rau, 27. “It’s a
performance that we have the right to celebrate despite the coronavirus and the
fact that we have to respect the rules,” he added.

“It’s more than
deserved, it was really tight, but the Bayern players have really had an
incredible season,” said Lukas, 31. At the Parc des Princes, supporters
lit flares and belted out their favourite chants.

Unlike Munich, social
distancing inside and outside the ground was forgotten as fans who hoped to
celebrate their team’s first ever Champions League triumph were left without a
party to go to.,”We are disappointed but we weren’t dreadful,” PSG
fan Anne Vaneson told AFP.

“In the first
half, we were on a level playing field but we paid for a dip in performance in
the first 20 minutes of the second half.”

Paris mayor Anne
Hidalgo said that she hoped for “mature celebrations” should PSG
triumph over Bayern, after supporters clashed with police following their 3-0
win over RB Leipzig in the semi-finals.

Also read: UEFA Champions League 2020: Bayern Munich win their sixth title, beat PSG 1-0

However, there were
scuffles between fans and police outside the ground throughout the game, with
youngsters armed with fireworks targeted with tear gas by police.

Dustbins and in one
case a vehicle were set on fire by youths angered by their team’s defeat, while
police vans were pelted with bottles.

Police said that they
had to clear away 100 people who had gathered at the Porte de Saint-Cloud area
of the French capital near the Parc des Princes.