UEFA Champions League
BAYERN MUNICH SET UP TITANIC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL AGAINST PSG
Serge Gnabry struck a first-half brace and Robert Lewandowski also scored as a ruthless Bayern Munich taught Lyon a harsh lesson in their Champions League semi-final in Lisbon on Wednesday (Aug 19), winning 3-0 to set up a tantalising final against Paris Saint-Germain.
Lyon squandered two golden opportunities to go ahead early on at the Estadio Jose Alvalade, through Memphis Depay and Karl Toko-Ekambi.
Within seconds of the latter miss, Gnabry had blasted Bayern into an 18th-minute lead in stunning style, and the Germany winger scored again just after the half-hour mark.
Gnabry, who scored four times in Bayern’s 7-2 annihilation of Tottenham Hotspur in the group stage, has now scored nine in nine appearances in this season’s competition.
Lewandowski’s inevitable goal, his 55th of the season, came two minutes from time.
Bayern as a team have 42 goals in 10 Champions League outings, with this more modest victory following their 8-2 trouncing of Barcelona in the quarter-finals.
They have won all of their European games this season but the biggest test is still to come, against a PSG side who will be a step up from what Hansi Flick’s team faced here.
After all, Lyon came seventh in the last French season, which was shortened because of the coronavirus pandemic. PSG won Ligue 1 and crushed RB Leipzig 3-0 in their semi-final.
It promises to be an enthralling final, even in the bizarre atmosphere behind closed doors in Portugal’s capital.
The German champions are looking to win their sixth European Cup, seven years on from their last Champions League triumph. It will be their 11th final altogether, against a club appearing in their first ever final.
For Lyon there will be disappointment as their second semi-final appearance ends in the same way as their first, a defeat by Bayern in 2010.
STEP TOO FAR
This was a step too far for Rudi Garcia’s side following their shock successes against Juventus and Manchester City.
Now they must rouse themselves for a new Ligue 1 season which is just about to start, but there will be no European football at all for Lyon in 2020/21, for the first time in 24 years.
They would have had to win this Champions League just to qualify again, and to be fair they will wonder what might have been in this semi-final had they taken at least one of those early chances.
Bayern certainly take risks with their incredibly high line, inviting opponents to try to get in behind them.
Lyon’s chance arrived inside the fourth minute. Maxence Caqueret intercepted a Thiago Alcantara pass, looked up and released Depay. The Dutchman went round Manuel Neuer but, with the angle tightening, he could only find the side-netting with his shot.
ASTONISHING TRANSFORMATION
The next big let-off for the Bavarians came when Leo Dubois sent a pass in behind and Toko-Ekambi had the chance, getting his shot away at the second attempt but hitting the upright.
Just 49 seconds after that, Lyon were behind.
Gnabry cut in from the right into the middle before letting fly from just inside the box. His thumping left-foot strike gave Anthony Lopes no chance.
It was a different game after that and Gnabry made it 2-0 in the 33rd minute.
He stole possession in the Lyon half, drove forward and laid the ball out to Ivan Perisic.
The Croatian’s low cross should have been converted by Lewandowski. Lopes managed to save from him but Gnabry converted the follow-up.
It looked like that might be that, as substitute Philippe Coutinho had a late effort disallowed for offside, but Lewandowski made it 3-0 with time running out as he headed home Joshua Kimmich’s free-kick.
Bayern now have 20 consecutive victories and are unbeaten in 29 matches, a run that began last December. Just a few weeks before that Bayern were in a mess, having sacked coach Niko Kovac.
The transformation under Flick has been astonishing and they are now 90 minutes away from ending this longest of seasons with a treble.
-AFP
UEFA Champions League
Osimhen and Aubameyang: Africa’s First Men of the Match in 2025/26 Champions League
The Champions League has barely started and already African fans have something to be proud of.
Two of the continent’s biggest names, Victor Osimhen from Nigeria and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Gabon, have become the first African players this season to be named Man of the Match.
For Osimhen, it was a night to remember in Istanbul. Galatasaray were up against Liverpool, a team with a European pedigree and needed someone to step up. Osimhen did just that.
His goal gave Galatasaray a 1-0 win but it was more than just the goal. His energy and how he kept Liverpool’s defenders on their toes all night made him the best player on the pitch.
So his winning of the UEFA Man of the Match award. Galatasaray fans had proof they have a striker who can change games at the highest level.
Meanwhile, on the same night in Marseille, Aubameyang was showing why he has been Africa’s most reliable goal scorer for over a decade.
At 36, some wondered if he still had it on nights like this. His answer was a thunderous “YES.”
Marseille tore Ajax apart in a 4–0 demolition that saw Aubameyang seal his stature as the orchestrator and heartbeat of the French club’s attack.
His movement, his composure and his leadership stood out. So much so that he too was rightfully awarded the Man of the Match.
The fact that these two happened on the same night made it even more special for African football fans.
Osimhen represents the new generation: quick, hungry and with still a few years ahead to make history.
Aubameyang is the veteran still out there to prove – even though he really has nothing to prove anymore – that experience and class don’t fade easily.
Together, they gave African football fans a double reason to smile.
For Nigeria and Gabon, these awards are more than individual trophies. They are ultimately a reminder of how much African players contribute to the Champions League season in, season out.
And the tournament is still in its early stages. So there’s every chance more players from the continent will follow in their footsteps before the Budapest finale in 2026. Only good omens for the 2025 AFCON that starts in a few months.
-Morocco World News
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In his glory days, Jose Mourinho celebrated dramatic goals from his teams by sprinting down the touchline, sometimes sliding on his knees for extra euphoric effect.
On Tuesday, back at his former club Chelsea as the new coach of Benfica, Mourinho’s most eye-catching intervention was down the touchline again, but this time his run was to urge his team’s fans to stop hurling objects onto the pitch.
Benfica under Mourinho, in his fourth game in charge, were defeated 1-0 by an under-strength Chelsea side in the Champions League after a fist-half Richard Rios own goal.
The self-declared “Special One” was lauded by the home fans with a few choruses of “Jose Mou-rin-ho” in recognition of his successes – three Premier League titles and four other trophies – which no other Chelsea manager has come close to matching.
Mourinho, 62, acknowledged the chants with a gentle wave, got a cheer when he ventured onto the pitch to clear a spare ball and quickly vanished down the tunnel at the final whistle after shaking the hand of Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca.
It was all a far cry from the fervour of 20 years ago when Mourinho – having led Porto to an unlikely Champions League triumph – turned Chelsea into English champions for the first time in 50 years in 2005 and won the title again a year later.
After a collapse of form, Mourinho departed in 2007 but he won the Champions League again, this time with Inter Milan in 2010, knocking out the Londoners on the way to the final.
He went on to manage Real Madrid before returning to Chelsea where he claimed a third English title and then had spells at Manchester United, London side Tottenham Hotspur – an unforgivable move for many Chelsea fans at the time – and Roma.
As the big offers dried up, Mourinho went on to coach Fenerbahce in Turkey where he lasted little more than a year before his return to Portuguese football with Benfica.
Asked after Tuesday’s defeat by Chelsea if he still had the drive of the early days of his career, Mourinho insisted he felt more motivated.
“If I am in a job it’s because I like to put myself on the line every day,” he told reporters. “I am desperate to win the next match.”
Mourinho said he thought Benfica had deserved more from the game. “We started well, we controlled well. I don’t know if I can say big chances but we had chances for sure.”
Chelsea’s Maresca said he was relieved to secure a win – albeit a scrappy one – after two consecutive defeats in the Premier League and a 3-1 loss at Bayern Munich in the his side’s Champions League opener.
“Sometimes you need to learn to win in another way,” he said of Chelsea’s improved defensive performance. “At least we learned how to win a game with a red card.”
Striker Joao Pedro was dismissed for a second yellow card after coming on as a substitute, the third time in four matches that Chelsea have finished with 10 men
-Reuters
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Hosts Eintracht Frankfurt scored four times in 29 minutes to bounce back from a goal down and hammer Galatasaray 5-1 in their Champions League opener on Thursday.
The Turkish sides are without their talismanic striker, Victor Osimhen who was injured while on international duty with Nigeria.
The Turks had hit Frankfurt on the break with Yunus Akgun completing the move from a Leroy Sane assist in the eighth minute. Germany international Sane, who joined from Bayern Munich this season, became the only player in Champions League history to play for four or more clubs and score or assist on his debut for each of them.
Frankfurt, competing for only the second time in the Champions League main round, struggled to break through Galatasaray’s defence until a defensive error from Akgun in the 37th. Ritsu Doan pounced, charged into the box and Davinson Sanchez deflected the Japanese winger’s shot in for an own goal.
The hosts took the lead in first-half stoppage time when 19-year-old Turkey international Can Uzun scored a superb goal on his Champions League debut after fine control and a quick turn in the box. The hosts netted again before halftime with Jonathan Burkardt’s well-timed glancing header putting them 3-1 up.
With the visitors forced to take more risks after the break, Frankfurt found space and Burkardt completed his dream Champions League debut with another header in the 66th for his second goal of the evening. Ansgar Knauff completed the rout in the 75th.
Frankfurt next travel to Atletico Madrid on September 30 when Galatasaray host Liverpool.
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