There's an old saying about football: it's a game of two halves. Typically, that means the team dominating the first half tank in the second and vice versa. In this game, the most unique of all UEFA Champions League finals, the difference in halves ran deeper than that.

Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) kicked off against Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich and, from the off, it was clear this would be a half defined by quality. As always, the stakes of the final weren't lost on anybody, so the players were palpably nervous. However, Bayern quickly began bossing the game and holding possession in PSG's chunk of the pitch.

However, in front of the goal, they were less judicious. Thiago wasted an early shot and, from there, the match reverted to Bayern dominating the midfield until the 18th minute when Kylian Mbappe and Neymar double-teamed up the left side, through Joshua Kimmich and Jerome Boateng. Neymar went low, and Neuer dropped down to stop it.

PSG's fast top line is their biggest threat, and Bayern knew that so, only a few minutes into their attack, the ball was swiped by Alphonso Davies, and he did everything he could to get the ball down the pitch and to Lewandowski. He was a step ahead, so he turned and makes a clever shot that went past PSG goalkeeper Keylor Navas – only to bounce off the post.

Boateng was replaced by Niklas Sule due to injury, and this ended up being an improvement for Bayern as PSG's speed and imagination up front was becoming really dangerous. Neymar, Mbappe, and Angel di Maria were vicious when they got the ball from midfielders, Ander Herrera and Leandro Paredes.

In the opposite direction, Bayern were smothering, and it was only due to Lewa being off his best and the constant patrol of Marquinhos that the German's never took advantage. Just before half time, in a sign of things to come, Mbappe nicked the ball from the Bayern backline and quickly one-twoed with di Maria, only to fluff it right into Neuer, who catapulted it down to Kingsley Coman – back in the team after several on the bench – who was fouled in the box.

At the stroke of halftime, the referee decided it wasn't a penalty, sending both teams to the dressing rooms of the Estadio da Luz on a nervy 0-0.

If the first half was defined by player skill, the second was defined by team character. Not even 10 minutes in, Neymar was up to his old tricks: drawing fouls and screaming, writhing on the floor whenever he was touched. He was intentionally getting in the way of Bayern star Serge Gnabry and eventually got him a yellow card.

Things escalated quickly, and Leon Goretzka almost went crazy on Paredes. Gnabry cooled him down and (initially) Bayern kept their heads while PSG were losing theirs. In the 59th minute, this paid off as Bayern pressed hard, PSG defended on the edge of their box, and Kimmich floated a pass over everybody's head to Coman who, in the replay and real-time, seemed to stand still and wait for it to land on his head so he could guide it in.

At 1-0, the game wasn't close to being decided – everyone remembers the 1998/99 final, right? – though the tide had definitely turned, and the patented PSG collapse had arrived. Presnel Kimpembe had to make two quick clearances to prevent Bayern racking up goals.

In the 69th minute, goalscorer Coman and Gnabry are swapped out for Philippe Coutinho and Ivan Perisic and PSG capitalized on this gap in Bayern control to take a shot on goal, but Neuer handily dealt with Marquinhos' attempt.

The French frustration was boiling out of the players, and the final 20 minutes proved that they don't have the mentality to be a genuinely elite team. Every possible break from Bayern was countered with a cynical foul, and cards started being brandished left and right; Bayern, already in the driver's seat, played into it and dropped the ground whenever possible to waste time.

Neymar, no longer content with being a victim, hacked down Lewandowski on the 81st minute to get a yellow card of his own. By then, Mbappe looked a man apart. Everyone else was emotional, he looked checked out, like he'd seen this all before. In the 89th minute, he had the best chance of the half, only to find he was offside.

It didn't matter anyway as Neuer saved it regardless. Bayern's keeper was on rare form tonight. As pundit James Horncastle joked on Twitter, PSG could have thrown sand at him, and he'd have caught every grain. The game ended 1-0, and Bayern took their sixth European trophy.

There is another, less famous saying about football and it comes from English legend Gary Lineker: "Football is a simple game. 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes, and at the end, the Germans always win." That isn't just a pithy way to describe this game, it describes the whole tournament for Bayern. They were operating on a different level to everybody else and worthy winners because of it.