Rooney Makes UCL Final Prediction And Picks Former Teammate As Potential Match-Winner

Former England captain Wayne Rooney believes Paris Saint-Germain has the speed and skill to exploit Bayern Munich's high defensive line in Sunday's Champions League final and punish them in a way Lyon could not.

Lyon forwards Memphis Depay and Karl Toko Ekambi missed gilt-edged opportunities in the opening 16 minutes of a 3-0 defeat to Bayern in the semifinal on Wednesday and Rooney has warned that PSG's front three of Neymar, Kylian Mbappé and Ángel Di María will not be so wasteful.

"Bayern have the advantage that most of their starting line-up have played in the Champions League final before. But I have a feeling for PSG," Rooney, who won the Champions League with Manchester United in 2008, wrote in his column for the Sunday Times.

"It will be a shoot-out and I think with Neymar, Mbappé and Di María, PSG will exploit the high line that Bayern play. They will get chances and take them. I have no doubt that press will create chances for Bayern but PSG are good enough in possession to deal with it and once they play through it there will be opportunities for their attackers."

Embed from Getty Images

The spotlight will no doubt be on Mbappé and Neymar who have combined for eight goals and nine assists in the competition thus far but Rooney, 34, believes it's his former Manchester United team mate Di María that could make the difference.

"PSG's match-winner might just be Di María. He's a wonderful player. He works tirelessly on the pitch and his delivery, vision and awareness is brilliant," Rooney said.