The month of April ends with the semifinals of the Champions League, a stage in the competition that neither LOSC nor any of its former opponents have ever reached. What were their respective paths?

The 2024-2025 LOSC season began more than eight months ago with a haletante double-confrontation against the Fenerbahçe SK led by José Mourinho. The Dogues won thanks to a home victory (2-1) and a draw torn off in overtime in Turkey (1-1). Then, during the dams, they were opposed to the Slavia Prague which they beat in a similar way. Superiors in front of their audience, Bruno Genesio’s men took advantage of a fairly large gap in the 2-0 game to settle for a short loss on the return (2-1) in the Czech Republic.

These two teams were eliminated in their quest for accession to the Champions League and returned to the Europa League. The Czechs experienced a particularly delicate league phase, with only one success (Ludogorets), two draws (Ajax Amsterdam, Malmö) and five defeats (Athletic Bilbao, Frankfurt, Fenerbahçe, Anderlecht, PAOK). This assessment was obviously not enough to reach the final stage. The Slavia Prague was just a thirtieth place.

The success was more important for the Turks, 24th and last qualified for the dams with two wins (Union Saint-Gilloise, Slavia Prague), four draws (Twente, Manchester United, OL, Midtjylland) and two defeats (Alkmaar, Athletic Bilbao) in their campaign. José Mourinho’s team beat Anderlecht (3-0, 2-2) before being defeated and eliminated by the Rangers (1-3, 1-2) in the eighth of the final.

As far as the Champions League is concerned, six of the eight opponents crossed by the LOSC in the league phase reached the final stage. Bologna (28th, 6 pts) and SK Sturm Graz (30th, 6 pts) did not climb to the next round with just two successes. At least eleven units had to be collected to hope to reach it. The Sporting CP, in free fall with the sudden departure of Ruben Amorim, the Juventus Turin and Real Madrid were to pass through the dams, of which only