FC Lyon shocked Manchester City on Saturday after the defeated the favourites 3-1. The win puts Lyon into the Champions League semifinals, a first in over a decade. Moussa Dembélé scored twice for the French team to seal the win, and that will see them facing off against Bayern Munich in the semis.
The win was shocking to Manchester’s Raheem Sterling. Who afterwards was seen laying down on the turf while covering his eyes. It wasn’t long after that the French team began to celebrate their victory after consoling a few Man City players who were devasted over the loss after failing to make the semifinals for the fourth year in a row.
The roaster for Man City is one of the most expensive ever assembled and to lose to a team that placed seventh in the French League was a tough blow to swallow. Speaking on their success, however, goalkeeper for the Lyons, Anthony Lopes said: “It’s incredible because we’re the surprise team. I don’t think many people expected us to reach this stage of the competition.”
While preparations are by the French team are already underway for their upcoming semifinal match, Man City will have to face the reality they failed to become European champions for the first time. Speaking on the loss, Kevin De Bruyne, who scored Man City’s only goal stated: “We need to learn — it’s not good enough, and that’s it, different year, same stuff.”
The loss leaves Pep Guardiola looking for his first Champions League title since coaching for Barcelona. He fell short of winning three times while coaching Bayern Munich and no can add multiple failures with Man City.
However, the year was not entirely a loss as Man City did win the League Cup, however clearly Guardiola choosing to play a five man defence who were unfamiliar with each other backfired. It left holes in the defence, and that allowed Lyons to win with strong tactical play.
After De Bruyne scored to tie the match 1-1, it took Moussa Dembélé only ten minutes after joining the field to retake the lead. Manchester had the chance to tie the match, but a shot by Raheem Sterling missed an empty net altogether, and less than a minute later, Lyons scored making it 3-1 and all but over for Man City.
Manchester’s performance was filled by error after error. The team was outsmarted and outplayed almost from the beginning by a coach many thought was no match to Guardiola. Speaking to the media, FC Lyon sporting director Juninho stated: “Rudi Garcia has left his mark, has instilled discipline. We grew up. Now we need a little humility, a little calm.”
This will be the first since 1996 that a team from Spain or England will not be featured in a Champions League semifinals. Instead, it will be France taking on Germany in what in what will be a match without fans due to the pandemic.