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Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
WHEN the end finally came, ironically on the same day Prince Kadewere died last week, it was hard not to wonder about what might have been had they converted some golden chances which came their way.

On Wednesday night, their Champions League flame was extinguished, inside the same Estadio Jose Alvalade, where they had charmed this country, with a glowing tribute to Pipi, four days earlier.

A 0-3 defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich, meant there would be no fairytale ending to Olympique Lyon’s brave adventure.

The result also dashed the French club’s hopes of celebrating the 70th anniversary of their founding with a maiden success story in the world’s premier inter-club football competition.

But, that was not before their Cinderella campaign wooed thousands of Zimbabwean football fans who switched into their corner after being impressed by the classy way the club stood with Warriors forward, Tino Kadewere, in his dark hour of grief.

After Pipi, a teenage football prodigy whose career was ended by injury before he had exploded on the big stage, Lyon granted Tino special clearance to fly back home and mourn his fallen brother.

Then, the French club sought, and were granted, permission by UEFA to wear T-shirts, during warm-up ahead of their quarter-final showdown against Manchester City, honouring the memory of Pipi.

And, after their stunning 3-1 win over the Citizens, many of the Lyon players, including skipper, Memphis Depay, and double-scorer, Moussa Dembele, dedicated the victory to their grieving Zimbabwean teammate.

“My brother Tino, this victory is for you,’’ tweeted Dembele just after his two goals knocked out the Citizens. “Be strong my brother.’’

For many Zimbabwean football fans, this was a masterstroke, and they jumped on board the Lyon Champions League train.

“Brilliant to see,’’ tweeted local broadcaster, Mike Madoda. “Shows Tino has been accepted, and welcomed, into the team.

“And, for Prince, I don’t think even in his wildest imagination he would have thought he’d get a tribute on a Champions League night, in a land not even his own.

“I’m sure Pipi was smiling down on OL (Olympique Lyon), last night.’’

A double by the livewire Serge Gnabry and a late goal by Robert Lewandowski, his 55th of the season and ninth in nine straight Champions League matches, powered the Germans to a final against Paris St Germain on Sunday.

But, things could have been different if Depay and Karl-Toko Ekambi converted golden chances, when the game was still goalless, before the Cameroonian forward spurned another opportunity in the second half.

That probably gives a window of hope for Tino, ineligible for the Champions League campaign, of forcing his way into the team sooner rather than later.

Dembele, the hero of the win over City, could also move, opening up space for the Zimbabwean forward.

“The aim now is to continue working, immediately with Ligue 1,” club sporting director, Juninho, told RMC Sport after the match.

“There will be departures, but I am not worried. When you have players, who play very well in a competition like this, like Moussa and Houssem . . . we will have to show the same spirit to be back in the Champions League next season.”

Lyon have a season, without European football, given they finished in seventh place, in the French Ligue 1 championship which was ended prematurely after the coronavirus outbreak, missing qualification for the next Champions and Europa League tournaments.

But, there is no shame in losing to this Bayern Munich side which has just gone into another gear since the start of the year and will start as favourites on Sunday.

The German giants have won all their 10 matches in the Champions League this season, steamrolling their opponents in the group stages as they thrashed Tottenham 7-2 in London, Red Star Belgrade 6-0 in Munich and, again, beat Spurs 3-1 at home.

They scored 24 goals in their six group matches, at an average of four goals per every game, before thrashing Chelsea 7-1 on aggregate (3-0 in London and 4-1 in Munich) in the Round of 16 qualifier.

That meant the two London giants, Spurs and Chelsea, jointly conceded 10 goals, in the two matches against Bayern Munich at Stamford Bridge and at the Tottenham Stadium, before conceding a combined seven goals in Munich.

But, if that was bad, then Barcelona’s eight- goal humiliation, in the quarter-finals, was a proper thrashing of one of the world’s biggest football clubs which highlighted the power of this Munich Machine.

Lyon won only two of their six group matches and drew, and lost, as many games to finish second behind another German side RB Leipzig.

However, once they reached the knockout phase of the tournament, the French side shifted into a different gear and found a way to boot out Cristiano Ronaldo and his Juventus, in the Round of 16, on the away goals rule.

Then, they shocked Manchester City 3-1, in the quarter-finals, to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League for only the second time in their history.

Given this is a club, which only won their first French league title in 2002, Lyon’s adventure in this season’s Champions League has been sensational.

It also provides further evidence that this is a club on the rise and, after winning seven straight league titles in the first decade of the new millennium, the club known as “Les Gones’’ (The Kids or Bafana Bafana in Zulu), are now beginning to make their presence felt on the European stage.

They had an army of Zimbabwean fans behind them on Wednesday night, including many who still remember their city as the one which provided the stage, for one of the Dream Team’s finest performances in a ‘94 World Cup qualifier against Egypt.

Sadly, they came short.

But, after showing so much love to Tino and to Pipi, The Kids will never walk alone as they now have a Zimbabwean chapter of fans.