Manchester City met Olympique Lyonnais in Lisbon in the last of this season’s Champions League quarter-finals for a one-off clash.
Pep Guardiola adapted his side to Lyon, matching Rudi Garcia’s 3-5-2 formation. This gave each side a spare man at the back against the front two, while on paper lining up one-to-one through the midfield and out wide, however in practice Lyon managed to outmanoeuvre City.
Firstly, they defended well against City. Houssem Aouar would push forward to join the press when City went down the right, and the midfielders or Memphis Depay would get tight to Rodri to stop City playing back inside. This should have been dangerous for Lyon – as it gave Kevin De Bruyne more space to drift in and Marçal had to step out of the backline to meet him, leaving a gap in defence – however the pressure left Fernandinho unable to find De Bruyne, while the lack of a runner in behind Maxwel Cornet meant the Ivorian could push out to get close to Kyle Walker quickly, making it difficult for City to advance the ball down the flank. De Bruyne switched towards the left by the end of the first half in an attempt to get more involved in the game.
Unlike Aouar, Maxence Caqueret wouldn’t push forward to press when City played down the left, preferring to keep track of Ilkay Gundogan. This allowed Aymeric Laporte to push forward down the left and pick out balls in behind the Lyon backline. Joao Cancelo would push high, occupying Léo Dubois, while Raheem Sterling would make runs in behind former City youth-teamer Jason Denayer, pulling the ball back to his teammates making runs through the centre. This can be seen in City’s goal, where Sterling makes a run in behind Denayer and squares the ball to De Bruyne running onto it.
Lyon found it easier to find space against City by overloading their left flank. They would form a back four by pushing Marçal out towards the touchline and having Marcelo shift across to cover the left-sided centre-back role, allowing Cornet to push high up the pitch. They would also have either Aouar or Depay pull out towards the left, with the other making runs through the centre. Due to the threat of Cornet in behind, Walker was reluctant to step up while De Bruyne was often pressing in attack, meaning there was no one to close down whoever had the ball down the left. With time and space to pick out passes in behind, Lyon were constantly able to exploit City’s high line, as shown when Cornet opened the scoring.
Guardiola adjusted his tactics, switching to a 4-2-3-1 and bringing on Riyad Mahrez, adding extra attackers to try and push Lyon back.
It was Lyon who came out on top though. Laporte pushed forward with the ball but his pass was intercepted and Aouar slipped a through ball in behind City’s high line for substitute Moussa Dembélé to finish. He sealed the win minutes later as City made a hash of defending a long ball and Ederson spilled the resulting shot at the feet of the young Frenchman.
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