Moussa Dembélé and the Lyonnais want to continue to dream against Bayern. - Miguel A. Lopes / POOL / AFP

  • A headline from the tabloid Bild picked up by the French press caused a stir among Lyon supporters, and undoubtedly the players
  • Before the quarter-finals, Barça was already surprised by certain statements published in German madias
  • The Bavarian players were very careful not to upset anyone, while the Lyonnais had found additional motivation by reading certain newspapers before Manchester City

“No Pep in the semifinals. Suddenly Bayern will demolish Lyon ”. A somewhat catchy web title and it is the entire Rhône-Alpes region that rebels Monday at dawn, after a weekend soaring far above the earthly contingencies. “Another sign of German arrogance”. “We're going to see what we're going to see. "" Who do they take us for spiked helmets? », Among other more or less flowery niceties seen from right to left.

A rise in power on social networks which inevitably reached the ears of Lyon players by agents or friends, even if Garcia and Lopes did not move on the subject during the pre-match press conference. The famous recipe as old as the world of the newspaper clipping plastered on the magnetic board in the locker room to motivate the troops to the well-known tune of "Look-how-they-talk-about-us-we're-going-them-show -who are we ”.

"Bayern will demolish Lyon"

Obviously Bayern is an ultra favorite, but overconfidence is not too good, eh.

Display this in the locker room @JM_Aulas @ Juninhope08 https://t.co/FZht3b2rW4

- 𝕃𝔼 𝕄𝔸𝔻𝔼 𝕀ℕ 𝕃𝕐𝕆ℕ (@ OL695) August 17, 2020

Bild who headlines "Bayern will demolish Lyon", there is a chance yes but ask the English tabloids which had titles in the same vein if they do not seem ridiculous today

- hugo (@ ol_hugo99) August 16, 2020

The headline that Bayern is going to demolish Lyon doesn't even shock me on the contrary, even go and motivate the Lyonnais by saying that we are going to have it this final! ❤️💙 #OL #TeamOL

- Jordan (@Jouwdan) August 17, 2020

Bild posted in the Lyon locker room?

By the way, it is always fascinating to study closely the intellectual development of the so-called offensive press clipping. Moonwalk until Saturday night, 10:59 p.m. OL have just brought down City and the last intern of Bild's website , the most read duck in Germany (the equivalent of the British Daily Mail , for short) thus titled his account of the Lyon feat. against Pep. Note that we don't say that out of contempt, it's just because we know a little how it works. The paper in question is not signed, it is Saturday, and it is August 15th. Suffice to say that no one works, or by closing their eyes. Moreover, at 20 minutes, we had left the "home" of the site to the concierge's cat.

Bild's article in question (and in original version) - Screenshot / 20 minutes

In short, it is perhaps a German shepherd who chose to write "Ni Pep: Dann Haut Bayern eben Lyon weg", which google translate translates much less aggressively as "Nothing Pep!" Then, Bayern overthrows Lyon ”. All that to say what? And although there is no plot to underestimate Lyon within Bild, and the poor fellow who chose this title did not think he was behind a new dispatch from Ems by updating the sports page before going to bed.

The story could have stopped there, since (more) nobody breaks the German in this country apart from Jean-Marc Ayrault of whom we have not heard from for 5 years, except that the correspondent of the Team has does its job. A small press review well packed in small in Monday's edition, the big follower accounts of OL who relay stronger than Jumbo-Visma and the machine is racing.

Achtung, Bayern! - Darum ist Lyon kein Geschenk für euch https://t.co/z2XzoDhjyj

- BILD (@BILD) August 16, 2020

Barça had already not liked the comments of some old glories

Basically, if Bild also said good things about OL in another article - well, we assume, it started with Achtung Bayern - the damage is done, a bit like before the quarter-final against Barça. This blow, it was not the press which was aimed, but the old glories of German football, which envisaged a walk of health of the Bavarians with a small burp to digest. Lothar Matthaüs, for example: "Bayern will have to make a mistake or overall do things very badly to lose against Barça", or Giovani Elber: "Today, Lewandowski is better than Messi".

Catalonia was offended, demanding compensation from Angela Merkel, and Hansi Flick had to temper the various indignation with a welcome haughtiness: “You cannot compare them. Robert is a world-class striker as a number 9. Messi has been by far the best player in the world for many years. I don't know if there will be a player like that again. "

This is the whole paradox of these somewhat overplayed outbursts. We cannot deny a certain arrogance which is not entirely unjustified in view of the impression left by Bayern since January, and we tend to agree with Daniel Riolo, for example, when he took over his German specialist Paulo on RMC Breitner "exasperated" because Bayern had left Barça hoped for at the start of the match (8-2, man anyway, you need what more, that Messi harakirise in the middle of the pitch?). But this sufficiency almost always comes from the commentators, the entourage, the former players, never the players themselves.

🤨 "You win 8-2 against Barça and it annoys you that for 10 minutes Bayern does not crush the other ??!"

🇩🇪 Daniel Riolo shocked by the words of Polo Breitner, exasperated by the punctual sufficiency of the Bavarians #rmclive pic.twitter.com/Guz0ZiR9kH

- After Foot RMC (@AfterRMC) August 14, 2020

Bayern keep a low profile

Bayern are blameless in the matter. On Sunday, he sent Corentin Tolisso to journalists. Not a first choice of Flick, but a former Lyonnais, from the training center. The international tricolor was not going to say a single cowardice on the parental home.

“We are not going to underestimate them. I know they are capable of doing less good things in Ligue 1, but when the big games are there, they are there. This was also the case when I was there. The entire Bayern workforce knows it "

Jérôme Boateng, who cannot be suspected of exacerbated lyonnitude, kept the same guideline, despite the insistent reminders of our colleagues from across the Rhine

“Everyone saw the Lyon game and me too. I wouldn't say we were happy, but we were surprised with the result. We must not forget that Lyon had released Juventus before. Saturday's game was a bit strange. City had much of the possession of the ball and Lyon were able to perfectly realize their chances. It must be said that it is a very disciplined team, and it will be very difficult for us. Of course, we were surprised with the result, but we cannot say that we are happy. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter who we play, we just want to reach the final, whether it's against City or against Lyon ”.

🏆 Champions League
🎙 Boateng: "Lyon is a very disciplined team, it will be difficult" pic.twitter.com/YjtcYP8Xgf

- beIN SPORTS (@beinsports_FR) August 17, 2020

And finally Serge Gnabry, the new left wing dragster, was also not caught in the act of complacency on Tuesday.

“If you look at the game against Barcelona, ​​it was clearly a signal. But Lyon beat Juve, and Manchester City, who were favorites. And now we are the favorites. We will have to try to impose our game and be there from the first minute, like against Barcelona. This is the last step for us, before the final and a very great title ”

Ideal for welding the Lyon group

The fact remains that as artificial as it is, if the controversy can consolidate OL in its position of outsider that no one takes seriously, the intruder who will not even compete in the event in October unless he wins it, that is taken. Juninho took a long time to change the individualistic mood in the locker room, so he is not going to spit on a little help from the press opposite to weld the group together a little more. We know that the condescension of the English media towards OL before the quarter-final raised a few eyebrows among the players and even the followers, astounded to see an entire press conference without any questions put to Guardiola on the opponent the day before the match.

🗣💬 "I continue the action because I believe in it and it succeeded me [...] Now, there are still 2 games"

💪 Maxwel Cornet, the man of City, is only joy and ambition at the microphone of @mohamedbouhafsi pic.twitter.com/6MqMksujtq

- RMC Sport (@RMCsport) August 15, 2020

However, they had not made money after qualifying. "I don't think the City players underestimated us, but maybe they weren't expecting us at this level," Cornet relativized, on the same lines as its president Jean-Michel Aulas. "Beyond the state of mind, we must not deny that we have had success, that's why you have to know how to remain humble and modest". A ready-to-go speech for Wednesday night if it all ties together. Frankly, we sign with three hands.

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