Outstanding Gnabry and bit of luck saved Bayern says Flick
LISBON: Bayern Munich needed a bit of luck and the quality of Serge Gnabry to survive early Olympique Lyonnais pressure and book their spot in the Champions League final, Bayern coach Hansi Flick said after their 3-0 win on Wednesday.
Winger Gnabry scored twice before Robert Lewandowski added a late third goal but the Bavarians had to survive early pressure from the French side who also hit the post.
“It was an intense game and we knew it would be like that,” Flick told a news conference. “Lyon had a great performance, pressured us and we survived it with a bit of luck especially at the start.”
Gnabry struck in the 18th and 33rd minutes to put the Germans in the driving seat but it was a far less dominant performance than last week’s 8-2 demolition of Barcelona.
“Serge’s individual performance settled our nerves. The 1-0 was outstanding. His finish and his run, just outstanding,” Flick said.
“His development in the past few years has been amazing and you can see that he is very close to a world-class player,” he said of the Germany international who has scored nine goals in nine Champions League games this season.
Bayern face Paris St Germain, 3-0 winners over RB Leipzig on Tuesday, in the final and they will need to improve their defence.
“It is clear we did not defend as well as usually,” said Flick, whose team are unbeaten in 2020 in all competitions.
“The focus is now on Paris. We want to give it everything we have. I don’t think that the attacking game of Lyon is far worse than PSG. They were ambitious in attack.
“We lost possession which we have to stop doing. Now we have to rest and on Sunday try to win the title with another top performance against Paris,” he said.
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