Robben Strikes Knock Out Punch!

iSporter Suraj Kori anaylses the UEFA Champions League Semi Final game between Bayern Munich and Olympique Lyon.

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Olympique Lyon entered this game with a view to book their place in the finals for the first time. They have appeared 11 times in the Champions League and have managed to reach the quarter-finals on 3 occasions but failed to go any further. This was their chance to turn things their way and enter into a dream final at Bernabeu. Well, with the number of upsets they have made one would have expected them to do so! Their road to semi-finals has seen them knock out some of the best clubs in Europe. They got past Liverpool in the group stage, but their biggest hurdle was Real Madrid whom they defeated in quite a convincing fashion. The French clubs have somehow appeared below par in front of the elite clubs of Europe and this is their golden opportunity to make an impact on world football…

Bayern on the other hand are backed by a good history with 4 Champions League titles! But in the recent years they have failed to add to the tally. While they have won many Bundesliga titles but Champions League has stayed far from them. Knocking out Man Utd was one of the biggest turn around of the tournament and with this win they have claimed the statues of being the favorites…

Bayern had a firm grip on the game from the start of the match! They adopted an attacking approach keeping the ball possession with them. They created number of chances getting the ball inside the Lyon box but failing to score any. The players got themselves in good position with just a final touch away from converting it into a goal. But all their shots were either off target or were won by the Lyon defenders. Bayern players were one on one with the goalkeeper many times but shot it off target.

The frustration was clearly visible on the players and the fans too! It reached its height when Franck Ribery was directly red carded and sent off for a challenge on Lisandro. This decision though is a debatable one! This meant that Ribery would not only miss this match but the second leg of semi-finals too. The referee faced abuse from the Bayern fans but remained firm on his decision. Bayern suddenly saw themselves in an awful position being turned down to 10 men and now Lyon had to capitalize on this advantage. They did manage t to a certain extent, but found themselves in the same position when Toulalan was shown two yellow cards within just 3 minutes. The match now seemed to be in balance.

With Ribery being sent off it was Robben who had to sail them through! Bayern never lost hope and kept hammering shots. They were rewarded for their efforts when a 25-yard shot of Arjen Robben saw back of the net to make it 1-0 for Bayern. Bayern finally got a much needed breakthrough…

Lyon never found themselves into the match after that and were being outplayed by Bayern. They did manage to create a few chances but failed to convert any, losing the chance of scoring the vital away goal. With a team like Bayern before you, you cannot afford to miss them. Lyon will have to come out with something extraordinary if they have it make it to their first ever Champions League final. Every goal by Bayern in the second leg would be a death knell for Lyon!

Bayern should have won the match with a bigger margin! 1-0 win doesn’t seem to be of a great advantage considering the number of chances they created. They just cannot sit back and enjoy this 1-0 win. They will have to score in the second leg too. Robben again would be the man for Bayern! So far he hasn’t let them down and he will have to fire if they have to see them through to the finals.