Bayern's remarkable 2020 season continues as they book a spot in the Champions League final: Champions League semi-final Match Report

 

Champions League Semi-Final Match Report: Bayern Munich vs Lyon

Bayern find themselves in their 11^th Champions League final after comfortably seeing off Lyon!

Bundesliga champions, Bayern Munich, brush aside Lyon to get their 10^th consecutive win in the Champions League to book themselves a place in final; a showdown between them and the fantastic French champions, PSG. Two huge early chances wasted by Lyon has them rueing on how they didn’t take the lead in the opening stages of the fixture. Lyon were punished for not netting the missed opportunities as Bayern put three past them to put their outstanding season to an end.    

The 3^rd minute and Lyon catch Bayern’s centre halves knapping as a threaded through ball to Memphis sees him one on one with Bayern's keeper Neuer. Neuer comes of his line and is no man’s land leaving Memphis to score the opening goal, but his curling effort rattles the side netting; a disappointing miss for Lyon's captain. Lyon pick apart Bayern’s back line again as Toko-Ekambi chases after a through ball down the right hand side and finds himself in the penalty area. He cuts inside and skips past two Bayern defenders, Alphonso Davis and Alaba, and fires his shot from close quarters but it rifles against the post. Two clear cut opportunities wasted by Lyon's attackers as they could have so easily taken an early two goal advantage.

Two minutes after Ekambi’s miss in the 16^th minute, Serge Gnabry picks up the ball 30 yards from goal, on the right wing, and drives inside with the ball; he explodes past Lyon's midfield, and finesses his shot goal wards which ends up in the top left corner of Lyon's net giving Bayern their first goal of the semi-final. Bayern’s, and Gnabry’s, second goal comes from fast build-up play which finds Perišić on the left wing who drills his cross across Lyons goal mouth for Lewandowski to slide home, but he fumbles his shot and it deflects to Gnabry to poke home from close quarters. Lyon left cursing over their two missed chances as the first half ends 2-0 to Bayern. 

Into the second half with Bayern winning 2-0, it wasn’t a surprise they were cruising; picking apart Lyon's back down when they liked. A through ball played by Alphonso Davis, that picks out Perišić, leaves him one on one with Lyons keeper Lopez, but he scuffs his lines in trying to get Bayern’s third, as he fires his shot straight into Lopez’s gloves. If Perišić scores, there would be no way back for the French side. With Lyon not bringing any threat onto the Bayern defence, Rudi Garcia looks to bring on some fresh legs to try and stop Bayern’s rhythm, but ultimately give Lyon a lift which they so desperately needed.

Dembele does just that, as he shows his physical presence, when he shoulders Süle to win the ball high up the pitch and plays it to Aouar, who then threads a pass in behind for Toko-Ekambi leaving him one on one with Neuer who was marshalling Bayern’s goal. He wastes the chance as his fires his shot straight at Neuer from close quarters, another vital opportunity missed for Lyon. It was a warning sign for Bayern from Lyon; Bayern wouldn’t want to concede now as they would be in for a nervy last half an hour of the fixture. Bayern retake control of the match after those frantic five minutes of play which could of easily seen Lyon score. As Dembele was willing to run the channels for Lyon, brief spells of hope flooded the Lyon players as they surged forward looking for the goal, but still no luck for them as they were beginning to look desperate going into the dying stages of the match.

Bayern end Lyon's hopes as a set pieces curled towards the back post, by Kimmich, is headed home by Lewandowski who scores his 15^th goal of the Champions League this season in the 88^th minute. The referee, Antonio Lahoz, blows his whistle to end to game after 3 minutes of added time to see Bayern win the match and book themselves a place in the Final of the Champions League.