Olympique Lyonnais have failed to reach the UEFA Champions League quarters every year since 2010. Could 2020 be the year? It will certainly be a tough mission against the Serie A leaders, but there is no shortage of optimism at Lyon, as president Jean-Michel Aulas' conversation with French daily Le Figaro demonstrated.

"This match comes at a strategic moment for us. We're in a position where our power is building and we need to pull off something huge to validate everything we've done," said the OL head honcho, who has engineered/presided over the greatest years in the club's history since buying the club all the way back in 1987.

WATCH: OL gear up for Juve with Metz victory

Dream come true

"When I imagined investing so much in OL and building something that would, over the medium and long term, become ineluctable in terms of results, I could easily have been dreaming of this week. It may be a year earlier than planned, but it's always nice to be ahead of schedule. Dreaming is not a sin, and it's not blasphemy. This is sport, and these matches are coming at just the right time. Perhaps not in sporting terms of, because we have had a lot of injuries that have penalised us. But, because we are in a sound economic situation, we have been able, perhaps, to make up for the injuries. We deserve to beat them and qualify."

>> Five reasons why OL can beat Juventus

During the UEFA Champions League  group phase, OL struggled to qualify, winning only two of the six matches they played. As a result, Rudi Garcia's team don't really have a benchmark performance to look to, but for Aulas, those are no grounds for concern.

Weapons-grade optimism

"We did everything we could to make the players feel like they could outdo themselves," Aulas declared. "When I saw Leipzig play that fantastic game against Tottenham, or Dortmund against PSG… even Ajax knocked out Juventus last year. What I'm about to say may be pretentious, and people will give me hell for it, but Lyon are a small Ajax. With fewer results than we would have liked to see in Ligue 1, sure. But OL have what it takes to accomplish something fantastic.

Ever the one to take the pressure off his players, Aulas is certain his club will fare perfectly well even if they can't become the first French club to knock Juventus out in a two-legged European fixture.

"If we don't do it, it wouldn't call into question everything we've done," said the talismanic president. "Because the foundations are solid and everything is on schedule and coming to fruition."

>> Le Spiro: Lyon must present united front

Admirer

Finally, Aulas made it clear that he holds Juventus in high esteem, because of all that this club represents and its very rich record of achievements.

"Of course it scares me. It delights and scares me. I'm an admirer of Ronaldo, [Miralem] Pjanic and [Blaise] Matuidi and I like [Adrien] Rabiot a lot," he admitted. "We admire what Agnelli is doing with Juve and his players, but it will only reflect more on us if we can peg them back."