Rudi Garcia got it right. At the moment, the Lyon coach also often sees it right… On a whole lot of things, and against the most prestigious opponents. Like Juventus in the round of 16, and now Manchester City. But especially when it comes to highlighting the role of the players from the bench in this "Final 8" of the Champions League, in Lisbon. “The advantage of the five changes is that you can renew almost half of the team. It's important, he said before facing City on Saturday in the quarterfinals. This is also why we will make the result at 16 and not at 11. At 25, moreover, because we made the trip to 25. Those who enter will be very important. "
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Not empty words, an empirical observation: "We saw it during the first two quarters: the players who scored the decisive goals entered during the game." In this case, the American international Tyler Adams propelled Leizpig into the last four, and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting delivered the PSG, against Atalanta (2-1). Two players who actually came off the bench. It should be noted that Philippe Coutinho stood out with a double after his entry against Barça. But Bayern didn't even need it, having already scored six goals before that (8-2) ...
"As we had expected, salvation came from the bench"
Rudi garciaStill, as the happy coach of Olympique Lyonnais had imagined, the substitutes had a decisive impact in this apparently unbalanced duel against the Skyblues of Pep Guardiola (3-1), at the Estadio José-Alvagare. “As we had expected, salvation came from the bench, he savored at a press conference. The five who entered returned very well, and Moussa Dembélé made the difference. ” In this case, only four changes were made on the OL side. But said Moussa Dembélé actually made the difference, it is a fact.
Entered instead of a discreet Memphis Depay for 75 minutes, the former Parisian had time to touch seven balls and shoot twice. Two goals on arrival, in the 79th and 87th minutes, while Kevin De Bruyne had responded to the opener from Maxwell Cornet before. Maximum efficiency, for a player who had yet only moderately appreciated being downgraded in favor of the speed of Karl Toko-Ekambi against Juve and therefore City. “Obviously, there is always a part of sadness not to start… You have to stay focused, he insists on RMC . A match is a long time. As long as the referee has not blown his whistle, there is always a possibility. I came back, I tried to bring my stone to the building. ” And to add: “We knew that it would be a complicated match against a very big team. When you're on the bench, it's not always easy ... "
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Especially when you "weigh" 44 goals in 91 matches with OL, and many English clubs are belly dancing ... But ego has no place in OL's mad quest in Portugal: “After this break (linked to the coronavirus), we made a promise. Every time we are in the field, we try to give 100%. The state of mind of the group has changed, it's all good for the future. We're still here, that means we're a great team. " A team that will face an ogre in the semi-finals on Wednesday Bayern. “Since the resumption, we take game by game. There is no point in seeing yourself too beautiful, too fast, ”promises Dembélé. Especially when we are going to face a team that can afford to leave Kingsley Coman, Niklas Süle, Philippe Coutinho and the world champions Lucas Hernandez and Corentin Tolisso on the bench, like last Friday ...
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