Saturday night, Olympique Lyonnais pulled off the upset on Manchester City, winning the quarter-final match 3-1 and advancing to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals where they will face FC Bayern Munich.
For a few days, French football took over the mainstream football media with Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon representing Ligue 1 in Europe’s top competition.
After their win, Lyon owner Jean-Michel Aulas took to Twitter, where he mentioned PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi. Both men are looking to have more French clubs qualify for Champions League.
“It’s a revenge for French football which deserves four qualified in the Champions League and two in the Europa League. This is my next fight, united with Nasser,” Aulas said.
@OL @PSG_inside C’est une revanche pour le football français qui mérite 4 qualifiés en CL et 2 en ELigue c’est mon prochain combat uni avec Nasser … #TousUnisOL
— Jean-Michel AULAS (@JM_Aulas) August 15, 2020
Currently, Ligue 1 has three Champions League spots. The top two clubs will go directly to the group stage; meanwhile, the third-place team will head into the qualifying rounds.
When it comes to Europa League, the fourth-place club earns an automatic bid while the other two spots are determined by what happens in the Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue. However, with the league cup suspended, a new requirement is needed for Europa League qualification.
If French clubs can continue to go deep in European competitions, then Aulas and Al-Khelaifi will get their wish of more French clubs in Champions and Europa League competitions.
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