Lisbon (AFP)

Lyon hopes to join Paris SG, triumphant winner of RB Leipzig (3-0) on Tuesday, for a historic Champions League final between French clubs. But against Bayern Munich, Wednesday (9:00 p.m.) in Lisbon, OL have an Everest to overcome.

France won the first battle of its opposition against Germany. But the hardest fight remains to be disputed.

Worn by Neymar and Kylian Mbappé, PSG tamed without trembling the "Red Bulls" of the RBL, to get closer as ever to its enormous ambition to lift the cup to big ears.

In the capital, as in front of the players' hotel in Lisbon, dozens of supporters celebrated this moment of glory which, for a long time, was refused to them, they who felt that a curse pursued the club in the European Cup.

Sunday, Paris SG will play its first C1 final, and his immense talent gives him reasons to believe in the title, regardless of the opponent.

"Finally, the final!", Exults Le Parisien Wednesday. "The strength is in them", adds L'Equipe.

France has only been at the top of the most prestigious club competition once, in 1993, with Marseille. But French football could make sure to regain the throne on Wednesday, if Lyon wins in the other semi-final.

After the match, Mbappé confided "his preference for Lyon, because it is a French club." "If we don't value our Championship, who is going to value it? After that, I know it will be a very complicated game," said "Kyky".

Funny paradox to see the French teams fighting this week for the C1, while the resumption of Ligue 1, scheduled for Friday, is upset by cases of coronavirus in its clubs.

- PSG after OM? -

The second Franco-German duel turns the tables, between Bayern Munich, big favorite for the title, and OL, the outsider who shines in his Asterix costume and asserts himself against the most powerful.

After Juventus Turin and Manchester City, the club from the capital of Gaul hopes to do a third feat that would send him into a new dimension for him: in the final of a European Cup

"Roaring together", the headline of the regional daily Le Progrès.

OL touched their dream with their fingertips in 2010 by reaching the last four of C1 for the first time, but Bayern had already slammed the door of the big leagues in his face (1-0 , 3-0).

"We did not have this habit (of the semi-finals)", explained to AFP the former Lyon defender Cris, a witness of this time. But at the José-Alvalade stadium, "it will be played on a match, behind closed doors and on neutral ground. Anything can happen," he said.

In these particular conditions, OL have sublimated themselves. The team, which finished 7th in the last French Championship interrupted by the pandemic, has transformed, under the impetus of a strengthened state of mind, and a system that has stabilized it.

- Lyon, "the little stone" -

"We really, really want to go to the final. We are not a big mountain to climb, sometimes a small stone is enough in a shoe to prevent it from climbing. Let's hope that we are that small stone. "said Lyon coach Rudi Garcia.

But Bayern still appear to be a cut above Juventus and City. Not satisfied by the winning of the Bundesliga and the German Cup at the beginning of the summer, the Bavarian ogre started his Lisbon stay with a banquet against FC Barcelona (8-2).

Winner of their last twenty matches, the teammates of Robert Lewandowski, the top scorer of the C1 this season (14 goals), have in their sights their first European title since 2013, tripled as it was seven years ago.

"It would obviously be the crowning of a fantastic season. To become the best team in Europe is a great motivation and that's what we want," said winger Serge Gnabry.

Lyon, in case of defeat, could find themselves playing a season without the European Cup at the start of the school year. A success in the form of a summit or a defeat that signals the start of a dull year: OL advance on a thread before the battle.

© 2020 AFP