After the shocking results that had played out in the Round of 16 and quarter-finals of this year’s Champions League, the semis were a bit more one-sided.
Olympique Lyonnais defeating Juventus on away goals in the first knockout round, followed by a 3-1 win over Manchester City in the last round was matched somewhat by RB Leipzig’s success against Atletico Madrid in the last eight.
Both outsiders, however, were beaten 3-0 in the last four, losing to Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain respectively. With the trophy only two wins away, the favourites showed their class to dispatch clubs that had largely been beneficiaries of this year’s shortened format.
Although, while PSG’s win over Leipzig was one of the most one-sided games in the competition this season, Bayern’s win over Lyon by the same score didn’t reflect how edgy Die Bayern were in the first quarter of Wednesday’s encounter at Estadio Jose Alvalade.
Having not had a French team make it into the final since Monaco were beaten finalists in 2003, the Ligue 1 producing this year’s two finalists would have been a dream. Rudi Garcia’s troops started the game seemingly intent on making history for the country and threatened to stun the favourites with their bright start.
This ultimately proved to be nothing but a false dawn as Hans-Dieter Flick’s team won by three goals. When Lyon assess their final night in Lisbon, they’ll be disappointed by their failure to make their illustrious opponents sweat because they missed presentable opportunities at important points in the game.
Karl Toko Ekambi was the principal offender in this regard. Minutes after Memphis Depay surprisingly failed to tuck away a one-on-one with Manuel Neuer, the Cameroon forward missed an even clearer opportunity to shock the Bundesliga outfit with 16 minutes played.
In truth, it was a self-made opening that came about through the striker’s skill and determination but he could only hit the post with a left-footed attempt from inside the six-yard box. The rebound fell to the former Villarreal frontman but he seemed to panic and neither shot with conviction or passed to Depay who was better placed to score.
Barely 60 seconds later, Serge Gnabry put Bayern ahead, and cameras shifted to the Cameroon striker given he’d just fluffed his lines.
However, the Bavarians’ opening strike, a brilliant solo effort by Gnabry, could be put down to Maxwel Cornet who committed one of defending’s cardinal sins by letting the former Arsenal man run off him into space. The wideman subsequently drifted infield, not fazed by the congestion in that area of the pitch, and smashed a left-footed shot into the top corner.
After living a charmed life in that opening 17 minutes, Bayern went in front with probably their first chance of the night. Toko Ekambi and Cornet were blameworthy at the time.
Soon after, the latter’s flawed defensive awareness came to the fore about four minutes after Gnabry’s strike. The Ivory Coast international lost Thomas Muller for a well-worked Bayern free-kick, failing to read the danger to track the German but was spared by the attacker’s failure to connect with the ball at point-blank range.
Inadvertently, the West African could have been at fault for two goals.
Maxwel Cornet lost Gnabry for the first and was caught on the ball in the build-up to the second. Game over.
— Seye Omidiora (@theReal_SeyE) August 19, 2020
In the 32nd minute though, Cornet was punished by Gnabry yet again. Manchester City’s bane intercepted an errant pass but was slow to get it under control and progress with it. He was caught on the ball just inside his half and Flick’s side were two up seconds later.
The 27-year-old wasn’t only underwhelming in defence, though, but equally played his part in the French side’s lost opportunities in that first 45.
It was Cornet who failed to pick out a final ball in the 12th minute despite having Toko Ekambi and Depay to square to in a promising counter attack. He tried finding his African teammate but Jerome Boateng blocked expertly.
Garcia’s issues were compounded close to the hour when Ekambi couldn’t beat Neuer after Houssem Aouar set it up for him on a plate. Les Gones were 2-0 down at the time but, with FC Hollywood’s form slipping, would have made for an interesting final half-hour or so.
Garcia had seen enough. He withdrew the striker less than 10 minutes later before Robert Lewandowski made it three with two minutes of normal time remaining.
Without question, it was a role reversal for Lyon against Bayern. While they were clinical against Man City, their profligate finishing on Wednesday, despite creating even better chances, let them down. In the end, the Ligue 1 side were inferior at both ends of the pitch, and Toko Ekambi and Cornet were particularly culpable in their hurtful exit.