The Daily Bee (August 20, 2020): Marco Reus Returns to Training!

Good morning, Fear the Wall.

O Captain! My Captain!

After missing more than six months with a nagging groin injury, BVB captain Marco Reus has returned to training. He has reportedly taken the 15-year-old striker Youssoufa Moukoko under his wing. It will be great for Moukoko’s development if he can learn from such an experienced player.

Before Marco’s season was brought to an early end by a groin injury and then tendon inflammation, there was a somewhat undeserved feeling among BVB fans that he was underperforming. While he wasn’t quite matching his career highs, he still racked up 11 goals and 5 assists in 18 matches. Marco’s beginning to show his age a bit, especially in terms of his pace, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t still an extremely talented player. Hopefully he can stay healthy long enough to make a positive impact for BVB next season.

Bayern Reach the Champions League Final

Yaaaaaaaaaaay.

In what was ultimately a fairly comfortable win for Bayern Munich, the Bavarians beat Olympique Lyon 3-0 to advance to the Champions League Final, which will be played against Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday. It wasn’t a clear result from the get-go. Olympique Lyon had a few really good chances in the first 20 minutes or so, but couldn’t convert either one. When you’re playing a good team like Bayern, you need to finish whatever chances you create, and Lyon failed to do so. Less than a minute after Karl Toko Ekambi struck the post for Lyon, Serge Gnabry scored a banger on the other end to put Bayern up by one. Lyon played hard during the second half but never really looked like they would make a comeback.

Bayern’s win was comfortable, but if I’m Hansi Flick, there are a few things I want to flesh out before the Champions League final on Sunday. Lyon looked very dangerous during the opening 20 minutes, but lacked the finishing to take advantage of their chances. Ekambi and Depay made a few runs in behind Bayern’s back line that successfully opened them up. One would imagine that if Mbappé and Neymar were playing instead, that the result would have been different.

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