Lyon left to rue missed chances after Bayern defeat
“We’re all very sad. It’s not easy to lose in a Champions League semi-final but we exit the competition with our heads high,” said sports director Juninho.
Olympique Lyonnais were left ruing missed chances after being beaten 3-0 by Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-finals on Wednesday.
The French side, who finished seventh in Ligue 1 after it was cut short amid the COVID-19 crisis and will therefore not play in Europe next season, had the first two opportunities to score at the Estadio da Luz.
But Memphis Depay shot just wide and Karl Toko Ekambi hit the post as Lyon dominated Bayern in midfield and found space in the back of the Germain team's defenders.
Cameroon forward Toko Ekambi also missed a sitter after the break as Lyon failed to capitalise on their chances to reduce the arrears after Serge Gnabry's first-half double.
"We're all very sad. It's not easy to lose in a Champions League semi-final but we exit the competition with our heads high," said sports director Juninho.
"We knew that we were up against a better team but we stuck to our game plan but to beat such a team, you need to score when you have the chance. Maybe it would have been different if we had converted our early chances."
Toko Ekambi admitted he should have found the back of the net.
"We could have done better, we could have scored, myself first," he said.
"They were not unbeatable. We played well but we knew we had to be above our usual best to go through and we failed to do that. The first goal hurt us."
Lyon lost the plot after the first goal in the 18th minute, as coach Rudi Garcia admitted.
"We're mostly disappointed because we lacked a bit of luck in the beginning of the match and then we struggled mentally because we felt it was unfair," he said.
"I'm not saying we would have won but the game would have been different."
Lyon were more compact after Gnabry scored his second in the 33rd minute but that did not stop Robert Lewandowski from making it 3-0 for Bayern with a header in the 88th minute.
"We can have regrets. We could have been 2-0 up. We hoped until the end," said keeper Anthony Lopes.