Lyon coach Rudi Garcia said his side were “not setting any limits” after their stunning win over Manchester City on Saturday set up an unlikely Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich.
The French team
defeated Pep Guardiola’s men 3-1 in the ‘Final Eight’ in Lisbon with a late
brace from substitute Moussa Dembele deciding the game after Kevin De Bruyne’s
goal had cancelled out Maxwel Cornet’s opener.
Their victory
against much-fancied City comes after they ousted Italian champions Juventus on
away goals in the previous round. But they will now have to see off an ominous
Bayern team on Wednesday if they are to make the final.
“We know who we are
coming up against next,” said Garcia.
“We eliminated a
Juventus side who were one of the contenders to win the Champions League, and a
Manchester City side who were contenders to win the Champions League.
“Bayern will be
exactly the same, but on the basis of what the players have shown logically we
can still hope to get through another round and that is what we are going to
prepare to try to do.”
Lyon finished
seventh in the curtailed French season, a desperately poor showing from France’s
second-richest club meaning they have to now win the Champions League just to
qualify for Europe again in the new campaign.
They have appeared
in continental competition in each of the last 23 seasons, but they have never
gone beyond the semi-finals of the Champions League.
That has happened
just once before, when they lost to Bayern in the last four in 2010.
“Confidence is
growing within the squad, but we will be outsiders and once again it will need
an exploit from us to go through,” said Garcia.
“When you are in
the last four we can say that we deserve to be there and if we get to the final
we really will deserve it.”
The former Lille,
Roma and Marseille coach was appointed last October and has never won over Lyon
supporters, but this result can only have improved his standing.
“I do this job to
experience these moments but they are very rare in a career,” he said.
“Tonight is
magnificent but it doesn’t give us anything, there is no title or place in
Europe. Now we need to recuperate, savour this and let it sink in.”