Manchester City 1-3 Lyon: 5 Talking Points as Rudi Garcia's men beat City to complete unlikely semi-final lineup | UEFA Champions League 2019-20
Lyon capped off four remarkable nights of UEFA Champion League football behind closed doors in Lisbon by producing yet another remarkable result. Rudi Garcia’s side prevailed against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in an exhilarating quarter-final tie.
A late brace from substitute Moussa Dembele completed a 3-1 win for Les Gones, who had gone ahead in the first half thanks to Maxwel Cornet only to be pegged back by Kevin De Bruyne.
Although the English side were odds-on favourites to progress from this tie, the Frenchmen could draw inspiration from beating their opponents in the Champions League group stages last season. And they caused flashbacks to that victory in France in the 24th minute. Cornet, who had scored for Lyon that night, opened the scoring with a superb low finish past Ederson at his near post from outside the box.
Manchester City struggled throughout against Lyon’s determined and disciplined 3-5-2 setup, with the Cityzens getting increasingly frustrated as the game wore on. However, their efforts bore fruit in the 69th minute when De Bruyne calmly tucked away Raheem Sterling’s cut-back to restore parity.
Many would have expected City to push on and find the winner after getting the leveler. But instead, it was Lyon that struck the next blow. Moussa Dembele, who had replaced Memphis Depay just minutes earlier, found himself clean through on goal after Houssem Aouar’s pass reached him unexpectedly.
The French striker made no mistake, finishing past Ederson despite a touch from the keeper to put his side back in front.
All was not lost for City at that stage and they had a golden opportunity to get back into the tie. However, as Gabriel Jesus’ cross across the face of the goal reached Raheem Sterling at the far post, the Englishman somehow contrived to send his finish flying over the crossbar instead of into the waiting empty net.
Barely a minute after Sterling missed that sitter, Lyon went up the other end to score again, with Dembele bagging his second. Once again, it was Aouar who set up the striker. Aouar's shot was allowed to bobble out of Ederson's grasp only for Dembele to swoop in and put the game out of reach.
That was the final piece of major action from the tie, with Manchester City bowing out at the quarter-final stage of the Champions League yet again. Lyon, meanwhile, who finished seventh in the curtailed Ligue 1 season, need to win the tournament in order to feature in Europe next season and took a huge step towards making that happen with a memorable win tonight.
Here are the major talking points from yet another unexpected result from the 2019-20 Champions League knockout rounds.
#1 Rudi Garcia Produces A Tactical Masterclass
Garcia and Lyon got their tactics spot on against their much-fancied opponents, from the three-at-the-back formation and playing on the counter-attack to the late substitutions.
The three defenders, paired up with a young and energetic midfield, blunted the formidable City attack significantly, while the decision to bring Moussa Dembele on in place of captain Memphis Depay after being pegged back to 1-1 proved to be crucial in sealing the win. Having withstood considerable City pressure and chosen just the right moments to attack, Garcia and Lyon deserve a lot of credit for the win.
In the other dugout, Guardiola had proven himself to be no stranger to major tactical reshuffles ahead of a big game in the past, albeit with some proving more successful than others. Unfortunately, his decision to go for a defensive-minded midfield three of Fernandinho, Rodri, and Ilkay Gundogan instead of playing Phil Foden proved costly as his side struggled to create in an attacking sense.
#2 Ake’s Arrival A Season Too Late For City
There has been a lot of discussion about Manchester City’s failure to replace the outgoing Vincent Kompany with a quality centre-back at the start of the season. The spotlight shone even brighter on this decision when Aymeric Laporte was ruled out for a large part of the season with a serious injury, with Guardiola having to resort to playing Fernandinho in central defence to make up for the absence of a ball-playing centre-back.
Despite having the option to go for the more experienced Nicolas Otamendi or John Stones, Pep has chosen instead to show faith in the young Eric Garcia in recent games. However, the young Spaniard has struggled at times to cope with the physicality at the highest level of football despite being paired up alongside Laporte, which has thus exposed City’s frailties at the back numerous times throughout the season.
Although the arrival of Nathan Ake from Bournemouth will go some way to fixing that issue, the absence of another top-tier central defender in the City backline, paired with Guardiola’s apparent lack of faith in Stones and Otamendi, has cost City dearly.