Bayern Munich beats Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 to win 6th European Cup
Lisbon: Kingsley Coman headed Bayern Munich to a sixth European Cup title, scoring against boyhood club Paris Saint-Germain to seal a 1-0 victory in the first Champions League final to be played without fans.
While Bayern won its first final since 2013 on Sunday, PSG has yet to lift the European Cup despite more than USD 1 billion being spent on players in nine years.
More than USD 500 million was spent on Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Angel Di Maria but PSG looked far from formidable or threatening against the Bavarian giants who felt more assured on European club football's biggest stage.
As the costly front three were frustrated in front of goal, it was instead a winger who was born in Paris and started his career at PSG who inflicted the blow.
The 24-year-old Coman ghosted in at the far post unchecked by the PSG defense and was ready to meet a cross from Joshua Kimmich in the 59th minute.
It was Bayern's 43rd goal of a perfect European campaign that has seen Bayern become the first team to win all 11 Champions League matches.
"When you win a title like this with brothers on the pitch," Kimmich said, "that's the maximum you can ask for."
It capped an incredible transformation this season under Hansi Flick, who emerged from the shadows in November, with a promotion to the top coaching job with Bayern fourth in the Bundesliga.
The season is now over -- three months later than planned due to the coronavirus pandemic pause in play -- with Bayern treble winners just as it was in 2013.
The European Cup joins the Bundesliga trophy -- won for an eighth successive season and the German Cup.
Bayern joins deposed champion Liverpool as six-time champions of Europe, only behind AC Milan (seven) and Real Madrid (13). It was the first final to end 1-0 since Real Madrid beat Juventus in 1998 which was also the last final to feature teams who qualified as domestic champions.
But the singing PSG contingent around the directors' box was silenced in a stadium that was largely empty due to coronavirus restrictions.
And when the final whistle blew, Neymar was in tears, embraced by Bayern rival David Alaba.
"They were more clinical than us," PSG midfielder Ander Herrera said. "When you play another top team in Europe, if you don't score they will."
PSG's footballing superstars were subdued at a final which lacked the usual pre-match entertainment from pop stars.
Not that PSG lacked chances to take the lead at a final that should have been played in Istanbul in May, rather than the Portuguese capital in late August when seasons usually begin not end.
Only the presence of "Istanbul" on the match ball that Neymar struck at Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer in the 18th was a reminder here of the pandemic-enforced change of location.
Neymar did spark the move that saw Herrera and Di Maria combine but the Argentine could only strike over. And an interchange between Herrera and Mbappe before halftime ended with a weak shot from the French forward.
Perhaps the only surprise was that there was no 56th goal of the season by Bayern forward Robert Lewandowski.
For once his scoring contribution was not needed as this season like no other ended with a 21st successive win for Bayern as part of a 30-game unbeaten run.
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Seven killed, three injured in separate road accidents in UP
Mainpuri/Muzaffarnagar/Deoria (UP) (PTI): Seven people were killed and three others injured in separate road accidents in Mainpuri, Muzaffarnagar and Deoria districts of Uttar Pradesh, police said on Wednesday.
All incidents took place on Tuesday night.
In Mainpuri, three persons, including a couple, were killed near the Shitala Devi Temple on Devi Road under Kotwali police circle when a pickup vehicle hit a motorcycle head-on, Superintendent of Police Ganesh Saha said.
The victims, Dharmendra Singh (50), his wife Baby (48), both residents of Ferozabad, and Sanjay Singh (40) of Tavepur village, were on the two-wheeler and were on their way to attend the cremation of a relative when the incident took place.
According to police, the pickup and a Wagon R car were attempting to overtake each other when the former went out of control and rammed into the motorcycle, killing all three riders on the spot. Police rushed to the scene and sent the bodies for post-mortem examination, Saha added.
In Muzaffarnagar's Charthawal town, a 30-year-old woman, identified as Imrana, was killed while another woman was injured after a speeding car hit them on Rajbaha Road.
Circle Officer Ravishankar said the victims were walking when the car struck them, throwing Imrana into a canal. She was declared dead by the doctors.
Following the incident, villagers staged a protest demanding action against the driver, who fled the spot without the vehicle. Police said efforts are underway to trace and arrest the accused.
In another incident in Deoria district, three persons were killed, and two others seriously injured when a car crashed into a tree in the Baghochghat area late Tuesday night, police said.
The accident occurred near Haji Market when a Bihar-registered Swift car coming from Pakaha went out of control and rammed into a roadside tree, leaving the vehicle badly mangled.
Police said five people were travelling in the car. Three of them died on the spot, while two injured persons were admitted to Maharshi Devaraha Baba Medical College in Deoria.
The deceased have been identified as Karan Kushwaha, a resident of Gopalganj district in Bihar, and Pintu Kumar of Dulharpur village under Phulwaria police station. The identity of the third deceased is yet to be established.
The injured have been identified as Govind Kushwaha (18) of Sisai village in Kushinagar and Bhola Srivastava alias Sonu (22). Police said the occupants had visited a relative's place in Kushinagar and were returning after attending a wedding function when the accident occurred.
Station House Officer Anil Tiwari said police had to use a gas cutter to rescue the victims trapped inside the vehicle.
The bodies have been sent for post-mortem examination, and further legal proceedings are underway, he added.
