At 8pm local time, 9pm CEST, the Champions League semi-finals between FC Bayern and Olympique Lyon will take place. What’s the point? Where do you play? What do the start formations look like? What does the statistics say? The kicker answers the last and most important questions before the duel.
he Bavarians are ready for the semi-finals against Olympique Lyon, they are confident and greedy. The French should only be another opponent on the way to Triple. “We want to get this title,” says Serge Gnabry: “It would be the crowning achievement for a great season for us.”
What is the situation on the ground? In Lisbon, people behave in a civilised and disciplined way, with exemplary respect for distance and security. The weather is summery, 27 degrees Celsius, the fresh wind has subsided. In the evening, at 8pm local time, when the game is picked up, the protagonists have the best football weather.
In which stadium does the game take place? This time at Estadio José Alvalade XXI, home of Sporting Lisbon.
Who runs the semi-finals? Antonio Mateu Lahoz. He has led four games in the current competition so far. Last time the 43-year-old Spaniard whistled FC Bayern in the 2018/19 season, when the German record champion had beaten Lisbon 2-0 to the start of the King-class Benfica.
Who’s Favorite? After an 8-2 defeat against FC Barcelona, FC Bayern, of course. However, and the Munich people are aware of this, Lyon is not to be underestimated. “We have to be careful,” Gnabry warns. Not that the FCB is doing as well as the two heavyweights before it. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge also said in the kicker interview: “We have to work hard on the final.”
