LiveUpdated
Wednesday 19 August 2020 19:39
Follow the action as Rudi Garcia’s side attempt to halt Bayern’s relentless march towards the final
Follow all the action live as Olympique Lyonnais face Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-finals.
Rudi Garcia’s side pulled off a shock upset against Manchester City in the previous round, despite their miserable domestic campaign, after substitute Moussa Dembele scored twice in the second half.
However, the French side face a formidable task in tonight’s tie, with Bayern Munich still carrying the momentum from their scintillating 8-2 thrashing of Barcelona. The winner will face PSG in the final in Lisbon on Sunday. Follow all the action live below:
Hansi Flick hasn’t been sucked into the fervour around Bayern Munich winning the Champions League after they demolished Barcelona in the last round. He says his team is ready and focused on this game against Lyon:
Less than 100% will not be enough. The game starts from scratch. My team is focused. We have set big goals. But it is a game starting at 0-0 and we have to play with the same intensity as against Barca.”
The warm ups are underway:
With just over half an hour to go until kick off, here’s everything you need to know about the Champions League semi-final:
The run continues…
Robert Lewandowski is the top scorer in the Champions League this season with 14 goals. He has scored in scored in all eight of his UEFA Champions League appearances in 2019/20 including a 16 minutes quadruple against Crvena zvezda on Matchday 5.
The record individual goal tally for a single UEFA Champions League campaign is Cristiano Ronaldo’s 17 for Real Madrid in 2013/14, Lewandowski has at most two more chances to better it.
Giovane Elber, the former Bayern and Lyon forward who is at the Estadio Jose Alvalade tonight, gave his thoughts on the game. He said:
“I expect a difficult match. Lyon managed to get past Juventus and Manchester City and they’ve showed they’re a good team who know how to defend well.
“Bayern have to be careful, play their game and not get impatient. They have to be calm. Lyon have very strong players at the back and players who hurt you on the counter. Bayern have to be careful.
“The group is very good. They have 11 players on the pitch but the others too all have the same thought, the same focus, to reach the final. When Bayern have a chance [to make the final] they’ll try everything to get there. I expect 2-0 to Bayern.”
When asked about Bayern Munich’s impressive goalscoring form, Garcia said:
“[Man] City scored more than 100 goals in the Premier League, so if we just look at the stats we can just watch the game at the hotel and Bayern can play alone,
“They don’t have a lot of weak points but no team are perfect.”
Lyon’s head coach, Rudi Garcia, gave a nature themed metaphor to describe his team’s status as underdogs saying:
“We might be the underdogs but we beat big teams to get there and others may start taking us seriously.
“Maybe we’re not a big mountain to climb but sometimes just a little pebble in your shoe can prevent you from climbing that little mountain.”
Lyon have a bit of an axe to grind against Bayern, who defeated them in their only Champions League semi-final tie a decade ago.
The French side, who finished seventh in Ligue 1 this season, have already knocked out Juventus and Man City in this campaign can they add Bayern to the list?
Possibly. But it won’t be easy at all. Bayern have won every game in this season’s competition, scoring 39 goals on the way.
It’s the fourth highest tally in the competition’s history and the best goal-per-game average of all (4.33).
A behind-the-scenes look into the Bayern Munich changing room at the Estadio Jose Alvalade. Looks decent.
Team news – Changes
Unsurprisingly neither Rudi Garcia nor Hans-Dieter Flick make any changes to the starting XIs that defeated Man City and Barcelona in the quarter-finals.
Lyon impressed in their 3-1 victory over the English club and Bayern destroyed the Spanish giants 8-2 on a night to forget for Barcelona.
Team news – Bayern Munich
Neuer, Thiago Alcántara, Lewandowski, Perišić, Boateng, Goretzka, Davies, Gnabry, Müller, Alaba, Kimmich
Team news – Lyon
Lopes, Denayer, Marcelo, Aouar, Depay, Dubois, Marçal, Ekambi, Caqueret, Cornet, Bruno Guimarães
Before we find out who’ll be lining up for Lyon and Bayern, let’s take a look back on last night’s action where PSG reached the Champions League final for the first time with a classy 3-0 victory over RB Leipzig:
It’s been 10 years since Lyon and Bayern met in a competitive match. The last time the two sides went up against each other was in the 2010 Champions League semi-final, so we’re in for a repeat of that tie tonight.
A decade ago, Bayern Munich were victorious over two legs, they won the first match 3-0 away from home and sealed a trip to the final with a 1-0 win back in Munich.
Will they repeat those performances tonight or is it Lyon’s turn for some revenge?
Welcome to The Independent‘s live coverage of Lyon vs Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-finals.
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