Lyon: Hospital Ward Edition

By: Inara | October 30th, 2008

Just who isn’t injured? Of the ten players out, seven of them are starting players. Defensively, Lyon are once again in a crisis. They are down to their last men in terms of defense. Besides academy kids, Lyon have no backups at all. If anything happens to the players that are left, Lyon will be screwed. Just SCREWED.

This is where the players hang out when they aren’t on the pitch.

Francois Clerc: He tore the knee ligament in his right knee. He has been out injured since the first week of August, when he was pulled out of the opening fixture against Toulouse.
Expected return: January or February.

Sidney Govou: He severely sprained his right ankle. He’s been out since the end of September when he was taken off the pitch against Bayern. He’s started light training.
Expected return: late November or early December.

Mathieu Bodmer: He pulled an adductor muscle. He’s been out since before the Lille game when he got injured in training. He has resumed light training.
Expected return: mid-November.

Fabio Santos: He pulled a calf muscle. He has been out since before the Lille game when he, like Bodmer, also got injured in training. A fractured cheekbone kept him out for the first two months of the season, so he has yet to play this year. However, he’s supposedly recovered and made the bench for the last game (but didn’t play).
Expected return: a few days.

John Mensah: He pulled an adductor muscle. He’s been out since the game against Lille when he had to be taken off the pitch. Mensah’s turning out to be very injury prone (he’s only played a handful of games since joining Lyon last July).
Expected return: late November or early December.

Juninho: His knee is sore. It’s nothing serious, just something he picked up in training after the game against Auxerre, but OL staff didn’t want to risk him.
Expected return: a few days.

Ederson: He has a strained ankle. He picked up a rather serious knock to his ankle in the game against Nancy, but he was able to stay on the pitch for the entire game. He’s resumed training.
Expected return: next week.

Hugo Lloris: He has a serious throat infection. He’s had it since before the Steaua game, but played while sick anyway. Unfortunately, the cold Bucharest air made it worse, and he was unable to train the entire week after that game. He was forced to missed both the Auxerre and Sochaux matches, but he has resumed normal training.
Expected return: a few days.

Miralem Pjanic: His left fibula is fractured. Yesterday against Sochaux, a very very bad tackle from Stephane Dalmat took Pjanic down. Though Dalmat was expelled from the match for his actions, Pjanic was eventually forced him off the field.
Expected return: late November or early December.

Fabio Grosso: He has sore ribs. For a while, it looked like he was suffering a relapse of the cracked ribs he picked up in an Italy World Cup qualifier last September. He was forced off the pitch during the game against Sochaux as a precaution, but club doctors report that his ribs are fine. Thank god.
Expected return: a few days.