Lyon vs. Bayern Munich Preview and Pick – Match Odds

Lyon vs. Bayern Munich Stade Gerland, Lyon France 2:45 PM EST Tuesday April 26, 2010
by Jason Green at Predictem.com

Match Odds: Lyon 2.45 / Bayern Munich 2.75 / Draw 3.40
Over/Under: 2.5 goals
Moneyline: Lyon +140 / Bayern Munich +170 / Draw +240

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On Tuesday night in the 2nd leg of a Champions League semifinal Lyon hosts Bayern Munich. Lyon was thoroughly outplayed in Germany last week and the French squad is actually pretty lucky to still have a chance to get to the finals. Bayern won the match 1-0 and Lyon was given the weekend off to prepare for this big match, which Bayern head coach Louis van Gaal stated was not fair.

Lyon has already beat Fiorentina, Real Madrid and Bordeaux at home in Champions League play so they will be ready for this big match against the German giants.

Bayern will be looking to make the finals of the Champions League for the first time since 2001. They had Lyon deep in their part of the field for most of the 1st leg of this tie, but still could only muster a 1-0 win. Now they will be at a tough place to play only up one goal.

Lyon has had problems on offense as of late only scoring 6 goals in their last 5 matches. They will have to come out attacking from the opening whistle since they are down 1-0. Lyon also has not won in their last 4 matches.

It is unlikely that Lyon will win the French Ligue 1 and it is a little surprising they got this far in the Champions League. They can really shock the soccer world if they can beat Bayern and make it to the finals.

This season in the Bundesliga Bayern Munich has scored 66 goals and given up 29 and in the French Ligue 1 Lyon has scored 54 goals and given up 35.

Lyon Recent Form:
4/21/2010 Bayern Munich 1 Lyon 0 (Champions League)
4/17/2010 Bordeaux 2 Lyon 2 (Ligue 1)
4/11/2010 Lyon 1 Lille 1 (Ligue 1)
4/7/2010 Bordeaux 1 Lyon 0 (Champions League)
4/3/2010 Stade Rennais 1 Lyon 2 (Ligue 1)

Bayern Munich
4/24/2010 Borussia Moenchengladbach 1 Bayern Munich 1 (Bundesliga)
4/21/2010 Bayern Munich 1 Lyon 0 (Champions League)
4/16/2010 Bayern Munich 7 Hanover 0 (Bundesliga)
4/10/2010 Bayern Leverkusen 1 Bayern Munich 1 (Bundesliga)
4/7/2010 Manchester United 3 Bayern Munich 2 (Champions League)

For Lyon they will, once again, have issues with their central defense, as Dejan Lovren isn’t eligible to play and Cris suffered a hip injury in Munich and will likely not be match fit. Also, Jean-Alain Boumsong and Mathieu Bodmer are still a little banged up and even though each has been training they may not play in this match. Jeremy Toulalan is suspended for this match after getting sent off with a red-card in Munich.

For Bayern Munich the big news is that Frenchman Franck Ribery will not play in this match after getting sent off at home after a tough challenge in last week’s encounter. Danijel Pranjic is also suspended for this match. There is good news for the German squad, as Holger Badstuber and Marc van Bommel are both back after European bans, and both are expected to be in the starting 11.

Bayern Munich has an Over/Under 2.5 goals record of 4-6 in their last 10 matches while Lyon is at 2-8.

Lyon striker Lisandro Lopez was brought to France to score goals and he will need to show up and provide some offense in this match.

Lyon will be attacking, but they really have to worry about the Bayern counterattack and get back on defense, which I think they will have trouble doing.

Bastian Schweinsteiger leads a solid Bayern Munich midfield and he played great in last week’s match both on offense and defense. Look for him and Bayern to thwart the Lyon attack from the middle of the field, as I see another low-scoring match.

Jason’s Pick: Bayern can play like they did in last week’s match while Lyon cannot. Lyon will have to attack, which has not been their strong suit lately. I see Bayern picking up a goal or 2 on the counter attack while not allowing Lyon to score. Bayern will progress to the final by winning this match either 1-0 or 2-0.