The Bavarians had won all nine of their Bundesliga games in 2025/26, scoring 33 goals and conceding just four. In Europe, prior to their assignment in Paris, they had also won all three matches, scoring 12 and conceding two.
Luis Diaz quickly silenced the home crowd
Although PSG were also perfect in the UCL, if anyone was going to break their stranglehold on the competition, it was likely to be Vincent Kompany's swashbuckling side, whose confidence was sky high after 15 consecutive wins in all competitions and 19 games unbeaten away from home.
The last match between the two sides saw the French giants triumph 2-0 in the Club World Cup, and the pace at which Tuesday's game began suggested another eminently watchable feast of football.
Luis Diaz silenced the Parc des Princes with a quickfire opener, after Bayern had swarmed all over their hosts in the opening few minutes.
Although PSG then took control of possession with 66.2% of the ball in the opening quarter hour, it took until the 14th minute for them to get their first shot away. Vitinha's effort was blocked and Fabian Ruiz's a minute later, was off target.
Blow for PSG as Dembele injured
Ousmane Dembele's withdrawal on 24 minutes was a significant blow for Luis Enrique and arguably upset PSG's attacking equilibrium, as a chess match of sorts began to develop.
Nuno Mendes' marauding runs were, as ever, a feature of the hosts' forward momentum, whilst Vitinha's consistently high passing range ensured that Bayern were often left chasing shadows.
However, a more robust and physical showing from the visitors wasn't allowing PSG to settle for too long.
Konrad Laimer, Michael Olise and Harry Kane were all heavily involved in one-on-one duels throughout the match, easing into double figures by the end of proceedings.
That willingness to stand toe-to-toe against players that can rip you to shreds given half the chance was one of the stories of the game, too.
Marquinhos howler
Although PSG came a little more into the match as the half hour approached, with Bradley Barcola going close, they were caught with a sucker punch when Marquinhos inexplicably allowed Diaz to take the ball off his toes and fire past Lucas Chevalier.
Serge Gnabry had also hit the woodwork shortly beforehand as Bayern began to turn up the pressure.
Fabian Ruiz's third off-target shot as the game approached half-time was more than any other player on the pitch, and, shortly after Joshua Kimmich almost took the game fully away from PSG, his shot trickling agonisingly wide, the pendulum swung in the hosts' favour.
A nasty two-footed challenge on Achraf Hakimi by Luis Diaz, which left the Moroccan writing in pain, was initially adjudged a yellow card offence.
After a VAR intervention, it was upgraded to a red card, meaning the visitors would have to spend the entire second half with 10 men.
Hakimi was carried from the field in obvious pain, replaced by Senny Mayulu, who went on to busy himself with three touches in the Bayern box and the winning back of possession on a handful of occasions.
Vitinha dictating play from midfield
His blocked shot was one of three from the hosts in the opening 15 minutes to the second half, where they had an incredible 86% possession.
Key to this was Vitinha's unbelievable 94.3% pass completion, though not to be outdone, Warren Zaire-Emery pushed the bar to 98.5%, completing 64 of his 65 passes.
Three shots at goal from Vitinha alone were evidence that the tide was turning in the game, notwithstanding that Bayern were still able to get up the pitch with relative ease, even if their goal attempts had all but dried up by the mid-to-latter stages of the game.
When Joao Neves fired home, the entire energy around the fixture changed, and with Manuel Neuer being forced into making five saves for the first time since a game against Real Madrid in May 2024, Bayern were just about holding on.
Zaire-Emery's three interceptions and three tackles - the most from any PSG player during the game - were keeping the Bavarians on their toes, whilst Lee Kang-in also weighed in with three tackles of his own.
Arsenal await in top-of-the-table clash
Kompany needed to stop the rot, so he brought on Kim Min-Jae to replace Olise with 10' to play. The validity of that decision turned out to be negligible given that the player had only two touches of the ball, didn't tackle anyone, nor involve himself in any sort of combat whatsoever.
The manager will have been thankful for the likes of Jonathan Tah's 95.5% pass accuracy and willingness to get involved in the heat of battle, alongside Aleksandar Pavlovic's 100% completion and winning of possession on four separate occasions.
Both players kept things ticking over, allowing their more attacking colleagues to go about their work in keeping the Ligue 1 outfit at bay.
However, six shots at goal in the last 10 minutes from PSG almost earned them a valuable point, a mixture of last-ditch blocks and wayward attempts seeing to it that Neuer's goal wasn't breached again.
The result puts Bayern atop the Champions League table, level with Arsenal but with a better goal difference, as the sides meet each other in the next round of matches.
