Lyon, FC United's opponent in the first round of the Europa League knockout round last season, after a year, the two teams met again in the first round of the Champions League knockout round, and people couldn't help but sigh that fate is so wonderful.

Lyon are now a step up from last season, with only Mariano and Diacabi leaving the team to move to Real Madrid and Valencia in La Liga respectively, but Lyon soon brought in Moussa. Dembele and Denayer to fill the void.

In addition, Ndombele, who was on loan from Amiens last season, was officially bought out, and Flender, who had trained at FC United for many years, was bought from Strasbourg. Mendy, Flender. Edouard Mendy was named the best left-back in Ligue 1 last season,

and with the addition of these four star players, as well as the likes of Lopes and Depay, the Lyonnais are starting to hope that they have the ability to regain the glory of a decade ago.

It seems that this is also the case, Lyon firmly hold the second place in Ligue 1, although the difference between them and the sky-high Paris is relatively large, but the teams behind them are also far away, and it is no surprise that the two will become the second French team to secure a Champions League place next season.

The Champions League group stage was also going well, with Manchester City, a broken team, locking up the top spot in the group early, Lyon having the last laugh in the competition with Shakhtar Donetsk and Hoffenheim, successfully breaking through from the group, and the draw for the round of 16 was drawn against last season's rivals FC United, and the Lyonnais have already sharpened their knives at the Olympic Stadium to meet the Red Rebels.

In order to prepare for the first Champions League knockout round in the team's history, Lu Wei has long been prepared, and giving up the FA Cup results is only the first step.

"Several of their strikers are more flexible players, don't be fooled by Dembele's goal count, although he is Lyon's top scorer, but in the Champions League, Dembele is just a front front, Lyon's real finisher is Depay who is ambushed behind Dembele, I think you are all familiar with him, know what to do."

In the away team's dressing room at the Olympic Park Stadium, Lu Wei was giving the final instructions to the players.

"This is the first time UEFA has used VAR in the Champions League, and it is also the first time that our team has played in a VAR environment, and of course, Oliver, Blaise and others have already experienced it in Russia."

"What I want to tell you is, don't bother with the video assistant referee what impact it will have on the game, the football is at your feet, not at their feet, whether there is a foul or not, whether there is an offside or not, you just have to remember - don't hear the whistle, don't stop your movements, especially the defenders, even a blind person can see that they are offside, as long as the referee doesn't blow the whistle, you have to chase until you get the ball into our hands, understand?"

“yes，sir！"

Lu Wei is not worried about how much VAR will bring to the game, the current VAR technology has just started in Europe, and the impact on the game process is not as big as two or three years later, and the comprehensive strength of FC United is higher than that of Lyon, even if VAR misjudges a few good shots, it will not have any impact

on the result of the game, but accidents always come suddenly on the green field, and Lyon scored the first goal in the first 9 minutes of the game.

Depay controlled the ball in front of the penalty area, turned and crossed to Theyer, who came to answer, and the ball shot directly from distance without stopping, Navas's fingertips blocked the football, but the trajectory of the ball's flight did not change much, and the ball bounced under the crossbar and into the net.

Navas reacted quickly and rolled over to press the ball to the ground and fished the ball back from the goal line, but the referee was very attentive and very sure that the football had crossed the goal line as a whole, more than ten centimeters past the goal line, and there was no need for VAR assistance to determine the birth of this goal.

fell behind at the beginning, Lu Wei secretly cursed a word of bad luck, and quickly adjusted his mentality to warn the players to continue to play according to the tactics arranged before the game.

FC United's tactics in this game are also very direct, with Giroud as the fulcrum, and Maddison, Grealish and Sancho and others bombard Lyon's backline in turns, which at first glance looks very similar to Lyon's tactics, but Dembele is not Giroud, and it didn't take long for Giroud to let his juniors know why he has been able to occupy the main center forward position of the French team.

Robertson's long ball from the back was in front of the Lyon penalty area, Giroud got stuck in Antonio's position and jumped high and headed the ball into Grealish, who stepped on a bicycle and walked down the middle.

Seeing that Giroud had adjusted his center of gravity and began to cut diagonally, Grealish immediately passed the ball over, Antonio had been thrown away by Giroud at this time, Denayer had to give up his position to block Giroud's shooting line, Denayer is also a veteran who has worked hard in the Premier League for many years, and knows how dangerous it is to let Giroud face the goalkeeper directly near the small penalty area.

Giroud had already shown his trademark smile after receiving a through ball from Grealish, and Giroud had already observed Denayer's movements with his spare eyes, but could a defender who was not featured at Manchester City be able to stop the former Arsenal striker's shot?

It seems to have stopped, and it didn't seem to have been stopped by Denayer, it was Giroud himself who chose not to shoot directly, but to dunk the ball back with his left foot, and actively leaned towards Denayer with the side of his body, not letting his leg get close to the football, Giroud raised his right foot and kicked the ball towards the other end of the goal.

Denayer is following Giroud, Antonio's attention is all on Giroud, and Flender. Mendy was targeting Jadon Sancho, Ndombele was still at Grealish's side and there was no one near Maddison at the moment, just a ball rolling towards him and a panicked Lyon goalkeeper Lopes.

Looking at the slightly dazzling net not far from him, Maddison did not commit a phobia of density and completed the shot with a light push.

Before the end of the first half, FC United equalized the score, although the goal was not scored by Giroud, but most of the credit should be credited to his head, dueling, making the ball, running, feints, assists, in just 10 seconds, Giroud did not do any superfluous action.

Taking the ball from his teammate and placing it on the tee-off, Musa. Dembele looked at Giroud and shook his head secretly, he is not yet 23 years old, and he is also expected by many Frenchmen, but he knows that he has reached a bottleneck now, the head coach of the French national team, Deschamps, has never expressed the idea of recruiting himself, with Giroud and Mbappe, I am afraid that no one can become the main striker of the French team.

And in front of yourself there is Ben. As for Yedder, Lacazette, and Anthony Martial, I'm afraid I won't have a chance to stand on the World Cup stage.

Dembele, who was a little wandering in his thoughts, thought like this, and let Maddison snatch the ball at his feet without paying attention, and Dembele stretched out a kick in a panic to trip Maddison to the ground, not only did he not get the ball back, but he also carried a yellow card on his body.

The main strikers began to lose their groove, and the attacking fluidity of the Lyon team decreased considerably, and after a very outrageous anti-aircraft gun, Dembele was finally replaced by a frustrated Genesio.

Taking advantage of the fact that Lyon's attack had not yet been reorganized, FC United launched wave after wave of fierce attacks, and finally took the lead in the 68th minute, when Giroud received Jadon Sancho's cross and headed home the spot.

FC United ended the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals with two away goals, and the second leg will be played on the red stadium in a month's time, although FC United's little devil schedule has only just begun.

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