Champions League Semi-Final Preview: Bayern Munich vs Lyon
Favourites to win the UEFA Champions League, Bayern Munich, are set to take on surprise semi-finalists, Lyon in the semi-finals tonight to set up a date with PSG in Sunday’s final.
Last night, to advance to the final of this year’s tournament-style competition, bringing to an end Leipzig’s fairytale run in the competition, which included knocking out Atletico Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur. Lyon, who have knocked out Juventus and Manchester City on their run will be hoping that they can keep hopes of an underdog winner alive by setting up an all-French final. However, Bayern Munich are favourites for a reason, best exemplified by their 8–2 demolition of Barcelona last Friday.
The Bavarians are on fire this season, with Robert Lewandowski spearheading their attack with 14 goals in this competition, three off of Cristiano Ronaldo’s all-time record for a single Champions League campaign. The Bundesliga Champions have won all of their last nine Champions League games and have scored at least three in eight of those matches.
Lyon, on the other hand have won four of their last six in all competitions. Their last three matches against Bayern have all ended in defeat, while they earned two draws and a win in the remainder of their last six encounters, stretching back to 2010. 2009/10 was Lyon’s first and only appearance in the Champions League semi-finals today and history will be made with a win tonight. Bayern, however, are five time winners of the competition and are currently 3–1 favourites to win, as per Bet365.
However, football is a funny game and Lyon have proved in their performances throughout their Champions League campaign that they’re capable of winning as the underdogs, and they cannot be written off.
Probable line-ups:
Bayern Munich(4–2–3–1): Neuer, Kimmich, Boateng, Alaba, Davies, Goretzka, Thiago, Gnabry, Muller, Perisic, Lewandowski
Lyon (3–5–2): Lopes, Denayer, Marcelo, Marçel, Dubois, Caqueret, Guimarães, Aouar, Cornet, Ekambi, Depay
Originally published at https://essentialmillennial.com on August 19, 2020.
