Head coach Joe Montemurro praises Lyon’s Champions League opponents Arsenal as the two sides prepare to meet this Saturday at Emirates Stadium.
Montemurro, who spent four years in charge of the north London club, will return to N5 as Lyon fight for a spot in the Final of the UEFA Women’s Champions League. The new-look Gunners are in full force, having scored four goals in seven consecutive league games. Montemurro packed on the praise for his former student Renée Slegers, who he mentored during her UEFA Pro License course.
“Credit to to Renee and credit obviously to Arsenal in regards to bringing the results, now they are sort of back to where they should be. Look, the quality was always there, the talent was always there. The brand of football is synonymous with with the club, and it probably just needed to steady the ship a little bit. In terms of Renée, she’s probably given the players a lot of freedom to to express themselves, and that’s come to fruition.”
“The individual talent of each player is important. They have a lot of talent, and can win games with that talent. They are a team that wants to have the ball, so let’s see when they don’t have the ball what we can do,” Montemurro challenged.
The Australian joined Lyon in the summer of 2024, having managed both Juventus and Arsenal on the European stage before. Telling The Halfway Line what he has learned about himself during his time at Lyon, Montemurro expressed “each club brings its own challenges”.
“Each club brings it brings its scenarios that you need to understand, and you just develop different different skill sets. You develop different tools in how to lead and how to train. From a football perspective, I try to always bring my ideas, my methodologies, my approach to the game.
“What you need to do is to adapt to the group that you got. Now we’ve got a lot of, you know, top professionals, great characters, strong characters, and you just need to find the balance. Do you get it right all the time? No, but definitely we hope we’re all going towards the same objective.”
The French giants will face the Gunners at Emirates Stadium tomorrow, before heading home to host the second leg at Parc Olympique Lyonnais next Sunday. Montemurro said the meeting between the two sides will be nothing short of a spectacle.
I think it’s a massive opportunity to see a high level game of two teams that want to dominate play, that want to keep the ball and have exciting players. So what a better show than tomorrow’s example, in regards to not only the women’s game, but football in general.
“I think you’re going to see some of the best players in the world on show tomorrow. So the big question, who will have the ball more, and who will want to dominate, who will be able to take their opportunities? It looks like it’s going to be an exciting opportunity.”
