Garcia: 'Ronaldo, stop at the border'

By Football Italia staff

Olympique Lyonnais coach Rudi Garcia joked that he hopes Cristiano Ronaldo “decides to stop at the border” when he expects a Juventus “determined to succeed”.

Lyon host Juventus after a turbulent season in Ligue 1 and could do with a break from the League. But their next hurdle in Europe will provide a big challenge against the Serie A leaders.

The former Roma coach Garcia must prepare for the match against the Old Lady without the team’s own star Memphis Depay and claimed the long-term absence could be compared to Juventus playing without Cristiano Ronaldo.

“This is a great opportunity for my Lyon” he told the Corriere dello Sport. “If we go through it would be a great achievement. Especially without Depay, who is our Ronaldo. Imagine Juve without CR7.

“How to stop Ronaldo? He has to stop at the border, and he might decide that he doesn’t like Lyon and doesn’t want to play here,” he joked. “Seriously? We must contain him through a defensive team effort.

“But it’s useless to cage him if you then will leave room for [Paulo] Dybala or [Gonzalo] Higuain. I will tell everyone that it’s a challenge, a real battle. That must be our motivation.”

Garcia is happy to have advanced from the group stage and expects a “tough” battle with the Old Lady but hopes that Maurizio Sarri’s men will “underestimate” the Ligue 1 side.

“The Champions League is tough, it was already nice to just make the round of 16, now let’s try to do this,” he added. “But I know that they’re determined to succeed. I don’t think Ronaldo would have moved to Juve to only win in Italy.

“The same goes for PSG. My hope is that they underestimate us. The draw could have objectively been worse for them.”

“Juventus are fighting for all their targets. It’s difficult for me to judge. I knew Allegri’s Juve better and they achieved some great results,” he added. “I think it’s easier to win by playing well.

“But did you see Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund the other night? They defended well, that’s true. But they also managed the ball in a great way. If you only defend, you lose.

He will meet some of his former pupils from his time at the Olimpico, as former Roma stars Wojciech Szczesny and Miralem Pjanic now dress in black and white.

“It will be a real pleasure to see Pjanic and Szczsny again,” he said. “We can’t give Mire any space, because he is a player who will supply ammunition to the attackers, not counting the shots he takes.”

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