After Juventus, OL achieved a new feat in the Champions League, eliminating Manchester City (3-1), Saturday in Lisbon, to face Bayern Munich in the semi-final and continue their epic. A few weeks ago, few imagined seeing the seventh in Ligue 1 triumph over the champion of Italy and then the second in the Premier League. A few days ago, they were even less likely to imagine two French clubs in the last four of the C1, which had never happened.
But the quarters of the "Final 8" swept away the forecasts, and offered Lyonnais and French football an unexpected summer, after a spring to tear around the early interruption of the Championship due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Sign of an evening like no other, the club chaired by Jean-Michel Aulas has found an unexpected hero, with Moussa Dembélé. Substituting for the second time in a row, the striker, returned in the 75th minute, scored twice at the end of the match (79th, 87th) to seal the feat. And to think that he had so far not scored any goal in C1 this season.
Citizen Cornet
Maxwel Cornet had earlier (24th) launched the OL machine on the rails. But there, it was almost expected, because the Ivorian has already impressed against City, scoring three goals in the two confrontations in the group stage in 2018. On a thread, after a difficult season in Ligue 1 which ejected him From the European Cup to the start of the school year, Lyon therefore clings to its dream, with heart and a little success too. A minute before Dembélé made the 3-1 final, Raheem Sterling missed the inevitable, all alone one meter from the cage. A crazy minute, which symbolizes the drive of a team that no longer looks in the rearview mirror and its past mistakes.
Against Bayern in the semi-final
He will still need a little success to pass the next obstacle, Bayern Munich, the favorite for the title which pulverized FC Barcelona (8-2) on Friday. OL-Bayern is also the poster for the last semi-final played by Les Gones, in 2010.
Lyon believed in it so strongly that it succeeded in beating the silence behind closed doors. Between the cries of encouragement from the substitutes, and the strong protests of the players at each contentious action, OL filled the void of the José-Alvalade stadium with their energy. You should have seen Rudi Garcia haranguing his bench and the Rhone delegation, while the referee checked whether there was offside at the origin of the action that led to Cornet's goal - a noisy lesson in intoxication, which contrasted with City's more laborious attitude.
In a system different from that which defeated Real Madrid (2-1) in the round of 16 return, with three central defenders, for nearly an hour, the Mancuniens did not shine. The Lyonnais, aggressive, also disrupted their long possession streaks characteristic of the game developed by Pep Guardiola.
Garcia's winning coaching
When Raheem Sterling or Kevin de Bruyne stood out, Fernando Marçal (3rd), Anthony Lopes (31st, 39th, 43rd, 73rd, 77th) or Marcelo repelled the danger, recalling the strength of the 3-5-2 which turned Lyon into citadel this summer. OL have cracked only once, after a combination between Sterling and De Bruyne which allowed the Belgian to equalize (69th). The solidity of the Lyon system also credits the work of Garcia, whose coaching was a winner, between the tenure of Karl Toko-Ekambi (who led to the first goal) and the entry into play of Dembélé. OL's collective strength has even made it possible to fill the lower performance of Memphis Depay or Bruno Guimaraes executives.
Pep Guardiola was wary of the “Final 8” dry match system, where “anything can happen”. He was right. With two successes of the title, Lyon believes in it more than ever.