Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery will discover next Wednesday whether he will miss out on a potential appearance in the Champions League final should the Bavarians make it to Madrid for the showpiece next month (Bayern Munich 5/2 Outright Winner).
The 27-year-old was sent off during the 1-0 win over Lyon in the first leg of their semi-final for a heavy challenge on visiting striker Lisandro.
However, numerical parity was soon restored when Ribery’s France team-mate, Jeremy Toulalan, who was playing as an emergency central defender, got himself dismissed after picking up two yellow cards early in the second half at the Allianz Arena.
Former Chelsea and Real Madrid star Arjen Robben scored the only goal of the game as the French side turned in a poor performance away from home.
Ribery will definitely miss the return at the Stade Gerland on Tuesday while his availability for the final against either Inter Milan (4/6 To Qualify) or holders Barcelona (11/10) is in the balance, with a disciplinary panel set to meet in six days to decide if his automatic one-game ban should be extended.
Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has already called for Ribery’s punishment to fit his crime.
He said: “It’s unfortunate that the referee gave a red card.
“But we cannot change it and we have got to accept it and hope that UEFA are not too harsh on him so that he could be in final and that the ban reflects the incident.”
Match-winner Robben, who reacted badly to being substituted late on during the first leg, is warning his team-mates that they still have work to do in the second leg.
He said: “Nothing is decided yet. Perhaps we have a slight advantage but we have a difficult match ahead in Lyon.”
Lyon were badly out of sorts up front on the night but captain Cris has refused to blame the road trip to Germany for the result following the flight chaos this week.
The Brazilian central defender told rmc.fr: “There was a good atmosphere in the stadium. It was still a semi-final of the Champions League.
“Many players do not have the chance to play this kind of meeting. We should enjoy it.”
However, Cris also admitted: “Throughout the game, it was not good, really.
“In the second half, we went back a little too quiet. We did not take advantage of our superiority (following Ribery’s 37th-minute red card).
“We tried to play. We knew they were putting on pressure and trying to score right away. We tried to cope but it was complicated.”
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