LISBON, Portugal – Emmanuel Macron has rushed to appropriate France’s prowess in the Champions League for political purposes.
“In Brussels, as on the ground, ” tweeted the French president. “France and Germany, the engines of Europe!”
The highest hard voices in the European Union’s decision-making process. And the last countries to participate in the first football competition on the continent.
This had never happened before: two French groups in the Champions League semi-finals after two nights of effects in Lisbon. This is only the moment, after 1991, since the first European Cup in 1955 when no team from England, Italy or Spain has qualified for the last four.
Lionel Messi and Barcelona were sent to pack their bags after an 8-2 demolition through Bayern Munich on Friday. Then Lyon, the fourth-highest-ranked quarter-final, eliminated Manchester City, the world’s top team, on Saturday.
On the way to the first European Cup final for Lyon, which finished seventh in the French pandemic championship, Bayern are a five-time world champion on Wednesday. Last night, Paris Saint-Germain, which ended Atalanta’s fairytale race, will face the start of Leipzig’s knockout phase, founded 11 years ago.
You have to go back even further to reach a Champions League semi-final that didn’t feature Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. This has not happened since 2005.
Ronaldo, winner of the Champions League with Manchester United and Real Madrid, did not even pass to this Portuguese town where he entered his career in Sporting. Juventus were eliminated in the 16th circular through a Lyon team that their national form to beat the team that has won nine Italian titles in a row.
It has a resurgence for Lyon, which swept seven French titles from 2002 to 2008 before the psg came to power, with more than $1 billion in player spending financed through Qatar since 2011, transforming the dynamics of Ligue 1. Seven of the last 8 national titles have been won through the PSG.
But Kylian Mbappé is very happy with lyon muscles in the most sensible flight, allowing the PSG forward to use it to mock the quality and prestige of the Ligue 1.
“GRANJEROS LEAGUE,” Tweeted Mbappé in capital letters along with clown-faced emojis and applause, tagging Lyon’s Twitter account after the 3-1 win over The City.
With Pep Guardiola, two-time Champions League winner as Barcelona manager, frustrated through Rudi García de Lyon, the last of the management heavyweights came here outside this mini-tournament.
Diego Simeone, who has lost two Champions League finals to Atletico Madrid, sent off on Wednesday by Leipzig. The eighth final saw Leipzig master Julian Nagelsmann beat Tottenham from 2019 finalist Jose Mourinho. The same level saw the defense of Jurgen Klopp’s name finish at Atletico. Zinedine Zidane’s hopes for a fourth name have been thwarted by the city of Guardiola in the eighth round.
A coach is guaranteed to lift the European Cup for the first time next Sunday. And what is rare in football, semi-final coaches are all from the countries represented through the remaining teams.
Three of the four are German. Hansi Flick of Bayern, Thomas Tuchel of PSG and Nagelsmann in Leipzig.
“It’s transparent that it’s beautiful for German football,” Nagelsmann said. “The education of coaches in Germany is smart. I enjoyed intelligent learning as a teacher and was glad of what I learned along the way.”
Nagelsmann took on his first training recommendation with Tuchel, with whom he worked in Augsburg before taking Hoffenheim to the Champions League for the first time.
“I think of the words that German football would be left behind in the foreign arena because we basically had German coaches,” Nagelsmann said. “And now everything is fine. Of course, that’s not the case either. But we’ll have to not live in the extremes.”
At 33, Nagelsmann would be the youngest coach to win the prize in club football.
“A German coach will be in the final,” he said. “Nice place to stay”
It was a shared adventure to Leipzig and Lyon. They took the two qualifying places in the same organization of 4 organizations after being the worst-ranked bodies, Zenit St. Petersburg and Benfica, whose stadium will host the final.
He deserved to have been held in Istanbul and in May. Not only have the dates and location changed. Like the format, transforming the dynamics of the competition.
The quarter-finals and semi-finals are condensed into 10 days in impartial Lisbon, rather than splitting into two months with everyone’s matches against everyone, to ensure that the festival can end the pandemic.
The disruption of football caused by coronavirus has fostered France and Germany. The English, Italian and Spanish leagues would only resume in June, so they did not finish their national matches until last July or early August.
No, the players of the French and German groups are much cooler in the run-up to this final eighth tournament.
The Bundesliga ended at the end of June. Ligue 1 was reduced after betting its last matches in March, while COVID-19 forced Europe to lock itself in. The only competitive French matches since then were the two finals in July, and Lyon faced PSG in the consequences in the League Cup before losing.
“The head guides the legs, that didn’t stop some of my players from running out,” Garcia said after Lyon overthrew City. “But overall we marveled more when we won, and it was a wonderful victory for us and for French football.”