Manuel Neuer celebrated his promotion to the Champions League final and it is certain that the current team surpasses the one he won seven years ago • Alfonso Davis: "A dream come true"
Neuer. Bragging towards the finals
Photo:
Reuters
In three days, the two strongest teams of Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain will advance to the Champions League final. Each of them defeated their opponent in the semifinals with the same result (0: 3) and they arrive full of confidence for the big meeting.
Bayern are the ones who qualified last night, after another clear display of superiority at the expense of the surprising Lyon. The Germans unquestionably dominated the game, and the opportunities that the French missed were answered with a swift blow, and as mentioned the security in the sky.
German champions goalkeeper Manuel Neuer sounds like he has no doubt his team will swing the trophy with big ears this coming Sunday. "Bayern's current team is bigger than 2013's," boasted the German national team goalkeeper, who compared the Bavarians of 2020 to a team that won the Champions League seven years ago.
"We now have a classic squad of just 18 players, and it's fantastic that we have such a great team," Neuer added, adding to his coach Enzy Flick: "He knows how to reassure us, just like in the semi-final preparation. Who is the opponent in front of us, we always have a plan, and the results speak for themselves. "
His teammate, 21-year-old Canadian defender Alfonso Davis, was more humble and mostly excited about qualifying for the final: "That's all a player can ask for. It's a dream come true."
On the final against PSG he said: "We celebrated a bit, but now we are focused on them. It will be a good final with enough goals, and as mentioned it is a dream to play with the best in this class."
A subdued disappointment in Lyon
While Bayern are celebrating, their semi-final rivals are trying to recover from the 2019/2020 Champions League experience. Lyon, to remind you, ousted two favorite teams before succumbing to Bayern's power. She defeated Cristiano Ronaldo's Juventus double and kicked Pep Guardiola's Manchester City in a knockout match in the quarterfinals.
Garcia congratulates the Bayern players. Lyon was close, but far // Photo: AFP
For this reason Rudy Garcia said immediately after the dismissal: "We should be proud of ourselves, but also disappointed." Garcia addressed, among other things, the two big misses of his attacking players, Memphis DePay and Carl Toko Akambi, who were immediately followed by Serge Gnabry’s great first from the other side.
"The high score makes us feel unfair. Coming back from a 2-0 deficit was already complicated, but we did not give up in the second half. We knew Bayern would attack from the start and we took advantage of that to get into the gaps left behind, but then came the misses of DePay and Toko Akambi," Garcia recalled. For the moments that dominated the game, "and when you don't score, you can't qualify for the next stage."