Munich

Bayern Munich remain top of the league standings after staging a road win over reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain.

Bayern Munich have made it 16 wins from 16 games this season to underline their credentials as early UEFA Champions League favourites, beating holders Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 away as Luis Diaz scored two goals and was shown a red card.

The Colombian winger struck twice on Tuesday before being sent off for a violent tackle on Achraf Hakimi on the stroke of half-time.

PSG, who reduced the arrears through Joao Neves, dominated possession after the break but failed to make it fully count and slipped to their first defeat in the competition since last season’s quarterfinal second leg against Aston Villa.

The result kept Bayern top of the 36-team league on a maximum 12 points with PSG in third, three points adrift and with more injury concerns after Hakimi and Ousmane Dembele were replaced early.

“Most importantly I hope that it’s not too bad for Hakimi. We went through this in the US [at the Club World Cup against PSG] with [Jamal] Musiala,” Bayern coach Vincent Kompany said at a news conference.

“What I tell players is that when there’s some hype, don’t believe it. We’ve won 16, but from tomorrow onwards, it’s back to zero. Nobody has won the Champions League today.”

His PSG counterpart, Luis Enrique, echoed that point of view, saying: “Today’s standings mean nothing. What matters is February, March, April, May.”

“It’s always hard to lose at home. We need to assert ourselves and play better. We faced a well-organised team, especially physically. We couldn’t get our game going,” PSG captain Marquinhos said.

“There are still some positives to take from this match. The team remain ambitious, but we have to do better. They were superior to us. In the second half, we were on top, but it was after the red card.”

Ten-man Bayern hold on for dramatic victory

Dembele made his first Champions League start of the season, but his night was short-lived, the France forward being replaced by Lee Kang-in after 25 minutes.

PSG, who had beaten Bayern 2-0 in the Club World Cup quarterfinals in July, came out flying with their trademark high pressing but were caught cold in the fourth minute when Diaz smashed home after Lucas Chevalier had parried Michael Olise’s effort.

Dembele thought he had levelled midway through the half, only for his goal to be ruled out for offside as PSG pressed but looked unusually fragile at the back.

Moments later, Manuel Neuer pulled off a spectacular save to deny Bradley Barcola, who had raced to a pinpoint long ball from Fabian Ruiz.

Bayern stayed a step ahead, and after Serge Gnabry struck the post, Diaz pounced on a sleepy Marquinhos to steal the ball and slot home a second in the 32nd minute.

Diaz’s evening ended abruptly just before half-time when he was shown a straight red card for a brutal lunge on Hakimi, who limped off in tears with a suspected ankle injury.

Long possession spells ensued for PSG in the second half, but the hosts lacked a cutting edge until the 74th minute when substitute Neves reduced the arrears with a spectacular scissor kick from Lee’s cross.

Neves came close to levelling a few minutes later with a header as PSG further increased the pressure. Despite the hosts’ late flurry, Bayern held firm.

Harry Kane says his interest in returning to the Premier League has cooled and he is willing to open talks with Bayern Munich about a new contract.

Kane is halfway through the four-year deal he signed when joining from Tottenham Hotspur for £86.4m in the summer of 2023.

The 32-year-old has scored 103 goals in 106 appearances for the German club, helping them win the 2024-25 Bundesliga title – the first honour of his career.

Tottenham manager Thomas Frank has said he would like to see Kane return to England, where he needs just 48 goals to eclipse Alan Shearer’s all-time Premier League scoring record of 260.

But the England captain says he is no longer as keen on returning home as he once was, and would consider extending his stay in Bavaria.

“In terms of staying longer, I could definitely see that,” he said.

“I spoke openly a couple of weeks ago that I have not had those conversations with Bayern yet, but if they were to arise I would be willing to talk and have an honest conversation.

“Obviously it depends on how the next year or so goes and what we achieve together. Right now, I would say we are in a fantastic moment and I am not thinking about anything else.

“In terms of the Premier League, I don’t know. If you had asked me when I first left to go to Bayern, I would have said for sure I would come back.

“Now I have been there a couple of years I would probably say that has gone down a little bit, but I wouldn’t say I would never go back.

“What I have learned in my career is that different opportunities and different timings happen and things fall in place. Going back to my first point with Bayern right now I am fully all in with Bayern.”

Oct. 4 (UPI) — Germany’s Munich International Airport resumed flights on Saturday morning after drone sightings closed the airport for 7 1/2 hours, the second disruption in 24 hours.

Drones have affected aviation throughout Europe with Russia suspected of launching them. Several European Union members want a multi-layered “drone wall” to quickly detect, track and destroy drones.

The airport said flights stopped at 9:30 p.m. Friday, affecting around 6,500 passengers.

It reopened at 5 a.m. local time when flight arrivals and departures were deemed safe, a call handler fielding passenger inquiries told CNN.

In a statement Saturday, the airport said 23 arriving flights were diverted and 12 into Munich were canceled. And 46 outbound flights were canceled or postponed.

On Thursday night, 17 flights were grounded because of several drone sightings near the airport.

“As on the previous night, Munich Airport worked with the airlines to immediately provide for passengers in the terminals,” airport officials said in a statement. “Camp beds were set up, and blankets, drinks and snacks were distributed.

“When a drone sighting is suspected, the safety of travellers is the top priority. Reporting chains between air traffic control, airports and police authorities have been established for years. It is important to emphasise that the detection and defense against drones are sovereign tasks and are the responsibility of the federal and state police,” the officials said.

Also Thursday, authorities in Belgium were investigating 15 drones spotted above the Elsenborn military site near the German border, according to Belgian media. The drones then reportedly flew from Belgium to western Germany.

Recently, Russian drones reportedly crossed into Poland and Russian MiG-31 jets entered Estonian airspace in separate incidents.

Russia has denied involvement in the drones in southern Germany in Bavaria, about 18 miles northeast of Munich, is the second-busiest in Germany, behind the one in Frankfurt, handling 41.6 million passengers in 2024.

Munich International is a hub for German flag-carrier Lufthansa. The first flight to touch down after the delay was Lufthansa’s flight from Bangkok at 5:25 a.m., according to the airport’s tracking website. Then starting at 6 a.m., several other flights landed.

The first seven departures were at 5:50 a.m.

The German airport says that 46 flights had been cancelled or delayed, affecting 6,500 passengers.

Germany’s Munich airport has reopened after authorities shut it down the previous night for the second time in less than 24 hours after more suspected drone sightings, as fears heighten across Europe that Russia’s war in Ukraine could spill over across the continent.

The airport, one of Germany’s largest, reopened gradually from 7am local time (05:00 GMT) on Saturday.

Forty-six departures from the airport had to be cancelled or delayed until Saturday, affecting 6,500 passengers.

Munich airport said that on Friday, “from 9:30 pm air traffic was restricted and then cancelled due to drone sightings”, meaning 23 incoming flights were diverted and 12 bound for Munich were cancelled, leaving nearly 3,000 passengers stranded.

A police spokesman told the AFP news agency that there were “two simultaneous confirmed drone sightings by police patrols just before 11pm around the north and south runways”.

“The drones immediately moved away, before they could be identified,” he added.

Authorities were not immediately able to provide any information about who was responsible for the overflights.

Airports in Denmark, Norway and Poland have recently suspended flights due to unidentified drones, while Romania and Estonia have pointed the finger at Russia for drone incursions on their territory. Drones were also spotted overnight in Belgium above a military base.

Some experts have noted, however, that anybody with drones could be behind them.

Earlier on Friday, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told newspaper Bild that the first night’s incident was a “wake-up call” on the threat from drones, adding that “more financing and research” on the issue was urgently needed at the national and European levels.

The disruptions came as the country celebrated German Unity Day on Friday – a national holiday – and as Munich geared up for the final weekend of Oktoberfest.

The annual beer gala and fun fair had already closed for half a day on Wednesday after a bomb scare.

The German government is expected on Wednesday to sign off on plans for a change in the law to let the army shoot drones down if necessary.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Europe on Thursday that the recent drone incursions showed Moscow was looking to “escalate” its aggression.

Germany is on high alert, saying a swarm of them had flown over the country last week, including over military and industrial sites.

Denmark also raised the alarm, with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen reiterating last week that only one country “poses a threat to Europe’s security – and that’s Russia”.

Moscow said it “firmly rejects” any suggestion of involvement, with Russian President Vladimir Putin accusing Europe of stoking “hysteria” to justify rising military spending.

Putin, speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Thursday, joked about European claims that Russian drones had invaded NATO airspace, saying that he promised he would not do it again, in the case of Denmark, and that he did not have drones that could fly all the way to Portugal’s capital, Lisbon.

“I will not. I will not [send] any more drones, neither to France nor to Denmark, Copenhagen. Where else do they fly to?” Putin quipped.

Oct. 3 (UPI) — Munich International Airport suspended all flight operations due to drones, it said early Friday, making it the latest European travel hub to have flights disrupted by unmanned aerial vehicles.

Several drones were sighted operating near Germany’s second-busiest airport Thursday night, prompting German Air Traffic Control to restrict and then suspend flight operations starting 10:18 p.m. CEST.

“When a drone is sighted, passenger safety has the highest priority,” the airport said in a Friday statement.

The shuttering of the airport impacted nearly 3,000 passengers, halting 17 departing flights and diverting 15 incoming flights to Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Vienna and Frankfurt.

Folding beds were set up in terminals for grounded passengers, who were also provided with blankets, drinks and snacks.

Last week, airports in Denmark and Norway temporarily shuttered operations after drones were sighted in their vicinity.

Earlier this month, Estonia, Poland and Romania each lodged complaints over incursions into their airspace by Russian drones and aircraft. Warsaw even shoot down at least three Russian drones.

The nature and place of origin of the drones that were sighted near Munich International Airport were not immediately clear.

Oct. 1 (UPI) — Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, was closed Wednesday after a bomb threat and an explosion in a residential building that also damaged nearby cars.

At least one man is dead.

Special forces were sent to Lerchenau, a northern area of Munich, where residents reported shots and explosions. Oktoberfest is on the west side of the city.

There had been a bomb threat from the suspected attacker early Wednesday, city officials said. Munich police said the explosion was part of a domestic dispute and the building had been “deliberately set on fire.”

Munich police said on X that the Oktoberfest grounds, Theresienwiese, have been fully searched, and there was no danger found. It said Oktoberfest would reopen at 5:30 p.m. CEST.

A man was found severely injured near Lerchenau Lake, and he later died, police said. Another person was missing. It wasn’t clear if the person who died was the suspected attacker.

“I woke up around 5:00 because there were a few bangs. I got up, looked, and then there was a fire,” The Independent reported a resident said.

A middle school near the scene was closed, and police diverted traffic from the area.

Munich mayor Dieter Reiter said the closure of the festival followed “a perpetrator threatening the Oktoberfest.”

Oktoberfest, known as “the Wiesn” by locals, runs from Sept. 20 to Oct. 5. It’s the world’s largest beer and folk festival.