Lyon’s UCL Success Shows Value Of Collectivism In Soccer’s Era Of The Individual

In the 32^nd minute of Lyon’s Champions League quarter-final win over Manchester City on Saturday night, there was a moment of simple, pure, elucidative beauty. Les Gones’ were out of possession and its supremely talented midfielder Houssem Aouar was focused intently on one thing: stopping Kevin De Bruyne.

As City swayed from left to right, shifting the ball and looking for breaches Lyon’s compact defensive formation, Aouar made sure he was never more than two arms’ length from the City midfielder, looking over his shoulder and constantly tracking the Belgian’s movements. Lyon had a plan and Aouar was going to stick to it. De Bruyne, Pep Guardiola’s team’s main creative spark, was to be denied the half-yard of room he so often finds to work his magic. And in the space that he had taken up at that moment, it was Aouar’s job to close him down.

De Bruyne is clever and constantly drifts to wherever he can find gaps, seeking out the triangular openings between midfielders, center-halves, and fullbacks. It is very difficult to stop him, as so many Premier League
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teams have found out over the past three seasons. But Lyon had a hugely important tool in its fight: communication.

When De Bruyne eventually moved out of Aouar’s zone and towards the left wing-back Maxwel Cornet, Aouar pointed and shouted, making sure that Cornet had understood the message before handing over the marking responsibility. And when he moved out of Cornet’s zone and towards left center-back Marçal, Cornet pointed and shouted, making sure not to leave De Bruyne in peace until Marçal had picked him up.

De Bruyne later moved over to see if he would have any more luck on the left. But he quickly found that Maxence Caqueret, Léo Dubois and Jason Denayer, Lyon’s triangle on that side, would do the same. It was a little portrait that made up part of a bigger picture.

Let us for a few moments forget Pep Guardiola’s tactical tinkering and the VAR’s decision to not give a foul or offside as Moussa Dembelé bore down on Ederson’s goal. Let us instead focus on what made it possible – not inevitable, but possible; with a little more luck City might still have won the game – for a team with considerably inferior individuals to emerge victorious in the biggest game of its season. Lyon made up for their frailties with cooperation, constant interaction, and dedication to a very clearly defined strategy.

Although we live in the age of Cristiano, Messi and Neymar, of super-clubs, super-managers and the concentration of wealth among a small elite based in western Europe – essentially, of focus on the individual at the expense of the whole – soccer remains a collective sport.

In unity, there is strength.

And in this wildly engrossing Champions League Final 8 festival of spectator-less soccer, contorted and misshapen by the coronavirus pandemic, Lyon are the embodiment of that idea. The club’s collectivism has carried it further than anyone expected it could go, which is something worth celebrating under the circumstances.

Rudi Garcia, importantly, recognizes the limitations of his own group of players. They are not all world beaters. Some of them were not even first-team players at Lyon a few short months ago. But the coach has found a way of disguising and compensating for their fragilities in the way he sets up the side – of asking his individuals to do what they are capable of and nothing more.

The back three is the perfect example. Marcelo, Fernando Marçal and Jason Denayer are not exceptional players, but by playing three central defenders with complementary qualities, their strengths are highlighted and weaknesses hidden. Marcelo is not the quickest or most agile, but was able to assert a level of physical dominance in his battle with Gabriel Jesus that his young compatriot failed to handle. Denayer, meanwhile, provides a little more youthful energy and the ability to burst forwards, whilst Marçal is left-footed and competent defending in the wide spaces that Cornet vacates when he flies up the wing.

Further forwards, the harmony is similar. Of the midfielders, Aouar is lithe and dexterous, Caqueret a bundle of energy and snappy challenges and Bruno Guimarães is mobile, adept at monitoring the space in front of Marcelo and capable of spraying accurate long passes into the quick, hard-working, goal-getting front two. Together the Lyon players form a unit that is greater than the sum of its individual parts.

When watching Lyon’s play on Saturday, the juxtaposition with how Barcelona had performed the previous evening – and in particular its reliance on Lionel Messi – was jarring, as it was when Rudi Garcia’s men took on a Juventus side so focused around Cristiano Ronaldo. But the individual-collective dichotomy is a scale of grays, not black and white. When Lyon took on Manchester City the contrast in approaches was not as great. And on Wednesday night in the Estádio José Alvalade it faces Bayern Munich, a team that certainly has more star power than Lyon but that also plays a discernibly cohesive sort of soccer.

That will make Bayern the biggest challenge Lyon has faced so far. In face of that greater threat, it will have double down on its own beliefs, on its ideas of how to approach the game not as a collection of individuals but as a united group. For, standing shoulder to shoulder, it still has a slim chance of a victory. But even if they progress no further, Lyon’s players and staff can count their efforts in this competition as an unequivocal triumph – and a proof of the value of cohesion.