The players are in the tunnel! Kick-off should happen in five minutes or so.
“Really helpful of Bayern to announce their team in numerical squad order,” moans Mark Hooper, “so we have absolutely no idea of the shape of the team – unless they’re springing a surprise back three of Thiago, Lewandowski and Perisic?”
Not sure about that. Here’s some helpful formation diagrams that someone else has made:
Everybody was astonished by Barcelona’s ineptaptitude against Bayern Munich, says Steve McManaman on BT Sport.
Memphis Depay’s sunglasses-and-mask look is a strong one, I think.
Here are the teams again, in purely text-based form:
Lyon: Lopes, Denayer, Marcelo, Marcal, Dubois, Caqueret, Bruno Guimaraes, Aouar, Cornet, Depay, Toko Ekambi. Subs: Andersen, Da Silva, Dembele, Traore, Thiago Mendes, Reine-Adelaide, Cherki, Jean Lucas, Tete, Tatarusanu, Bard, Diomande.
Bayern Munich: Neuer, Kimmich, Boateng, Alaba, Davies, Thiago, Goretzka, Gnabry, Muller, Perisic, Lewandowski. Subs: Odriozola, Sule, Pavard, Javi Martinez, Coutinho, Cuisance, Lucas, Tolisso, Ulreich, Coman, Zirkzee, Hoffmann.
Referee: Antonio Mateu Lahoz (Spain).
Here’s the big pot that is up for grabs in Lisbon this week, getting a little pre-match attention.
The team sheets have been handed in, and here are tonight’s protagonists:
Hello world!
The season is finally drawing to a close. Just three fixtures remain in the (men’s) European season, and the big question is: can anyone stall the Bayern train? The bookmakers are pretty sure that Lyon won’t – you can get 11-1 against the French side winning this single match, an extraordinary level of favouritism for a one-off neutral-venue match between elite teams, particularly since they have already seen off Juventus and Manchester City. But Bayern produced the performance, and the result, of the Champions League season in their quarter-final against Barcelona, and you’d have thought their tails will be not so much up as fully airborne. Can Lyon conjure another upset tonight? Let’s find out, shall we?