Look well, Pep, it’s just Lyon, not lions

The only time the phonemes ‘i’ and ‘y’ are a bit confusing is when an English or someone from England is pronouncing Lyon and Lyon. And for Manchester City, there is nothing scarier than for the Lyonnais to begin roaring like the dreaded animal.

City manager Pep Guardiola will hope that Ivorian wing-back Maxwel Cornet and Dutch forward Memphis Depay do not turn Estadio Alvalade into a jungle for their hunt as they did at the Etihad in September 2018.

Guardiola made the semi-finals in each of his first seven years of management between 2009 and 2016, four times with Barcelona and three with Bayern Munich. However, he has been unable to move beyond Sir Alex Ferguson and level with Mourinho in three complete attempts so far at the Etihad.

Tonight presents his latest chance to do so and Guardiola will be silently relieved that it will not be Bruno Génésio in the opposite dugout but Rudi Garcia.

Génésio humbled Guardiola at the Etihad in September 2018, with Cornet and Fekir goals, and then the Ivorian struck twice in the 2-2 draw in France two months later – off Depay’s mazy runs again.
No easy opponent
But going into the unique one-off quarter-final showdown in Lisbon, Lyon’s Garcia will fancy his chances having eliminated Juventus, while Man City will count on their impressive victory over Real Madrid.

City overcame record 13-time winners Real 4-2 on aggregate but Guardiola said there was no time to sit back and revel in the win.

“I just spoke with the scouting department about Lyon and they told me to be alert,” said the two-time winner with Barcelona.
“To win the Champions League you have to beat a lot of teams, so many good teams.”

Uefa Champions League

Tonight 10PM | SS3 Live
Man City vs. Lyon
PEP’s record VS. LYON
Nov. 27, 2018
Lyon 2:2 Man City
Sep 19, 2018
Man City 1:2 Lyon
Mar 11, 2009
Barcelona 5:2 Lyon
Feb 24, 2009
Lyon 1:1 Barcelona