Despite Athletic’s struggles in Europe this term (W1, D1, L3 coming into this encounter), the atmosphere at San Mames was electric, and the home players seemed to feed off that energy, pressing aggressively but in a calculated manner.
That said, neither side were showing much quality in the final third, with PSG having to make do without Ousmane Dembele and Achraf Hakimi, while exciting winger Robert Navarro was unavailable for Athletic.
Indeed, the first time that either goalkeeper was really tested was in the 31st minute as Alex Berenguer’s audacious free-kick was tipped behind by PSG’s stand-in goalkeeper Matvey Safonov. Meanwhile, it took until the stroke of half-time for Unai Simon to be called into action as he thwarted Senny Mayulu from close range.
Mayulu had another chance shortly after the break and will feel that he should have put the visitors ahead , instead being denied by Simon again, although just after Khvicha Kvaratskhelia had whipped in the cross for that chance, Joao Neves had a strong shout for a penalty after being shoved over by Yuri Berchiche.
Simon was really underlining why he is Spain's number one, then getting down to repel Warren Zaïre-Emery, with Bradley Barcola's follow-up hitting the bar.
Athletic will not have enjoyed seeing Desire Doue’s introduction, but the Frenchman was pretty quiet on his return from injury, and Athletic seemed to get a second wind in the latter stages of the contest, without showing much attacking ingenuity. Simón pulled off one more smart save late on from Fabian Ruiz, with Berchiche getting back on the line to clear the Spanish midfielder's follow-up.
This was the first time that PSG had failed to score in a UCL away match since November 2024, but they still find themselves third in the league-phase table, whereas Athletic are languishing in 28th, outside the play-off positions.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Unai Simon (Athletic Club)