This will be the ninth competitive meeting between Bayern and Lyon with the German side having won four of them. Fit-again Benjamin Pavard is expected to make it to the line-up while full-backs Joshua Kimmich and Alphonso Davies will be crucial to the team after their tireless display in the quarter-finals. Lyon are likely to go with the same XI and will look to get an early goal to give themselves some room to breath.

Lyon Bayern in 3 words…#UCL pic.twitter.com/lBLrygjIGz

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 19, 2020

Financially there is a lot at stake for Lyon. Beyond the huge prestige of winning the European Cup for the first time, Lyon has to win the final just to qualify for next season’s competition after only finishing seventh in a French league season curtailed by the pandemic. Bayern was Lyon’s opponent when the Ligue 1 side last reached a Champions League semifinal in 2010, with the German team winning 4-0 over two legs. This time, due to the pandemic constrained format, the semifinal is a single game without fans in Lisbon.

Like Lyon with the arrival of Rudi Garcia, Bayern are also reaping the rewards of a mid-season managerial change. Hansi Flick replaced Niko Kovac in November, leading a revival powered by Robert Lewandowski’s goals.