A Painful Home Stretch

By: Inara | November 24th, 2007

Our schedule until the end of December looks really ugly. According to Lyon’s website, this year’s end-of-the-year fixtures are more complicated than in previous seasons. Let’s take a look (I bolded the most challenging matches):

11/24 aka TODAY: Rennes – Lyon
11/27: Lyon – Barcelona
12/02: Lyon – Strasbourg
12/08: Caen – Lyon
12/12: Rangers – Lyon
12/15: Lyon – Nice
12/22: Nancy – Lyon

Rennes is one of Lyon’s bogey teams. They are genuine contenders for a Champions League spot (some argue that they should have qualified for this season) and always know which buttons to push when it comes to Lyon. They were the team who were responsible for Lyon’s ONLY defeat in the first half of last season (from August to December, Lyon were undefeated except at Rennes…boo).

Then in April, Lyon were supposed to officially win the title during a home game against them, except Rennes held Lyon to a goalless draw. That pissed off Lyon supporters who came for a title celebration, and they left the stadium booing. Oh, and that was the game where Milan Baros told Stephan MBia he smelled. Yeah, so Lyon have a lot of issues with Rennes.

And then there are the two crucial Champions League matches, and Lyon needs to win both to ensure qualification. Good luck with that, Alain Perrin.

Though I didn’t bold the games against Caen, Strasbourg, and Nice, that doesn’t mean they are easy. Though just promoted, Strasbourg are chilling in the top ten and have been punching above their weight all season. Caen proved to be a bitch to play against in the Coupe de la Ligue, and I can’t imagine them changing their tactics for a league match. As for Nice, they can surprise you. Sometimes they are disappointing, but sometimes they will shock you by snatching a draw at the Gerland or beating the crap out of Marseille.

The last match is against Nancy, Lyon’s nearest challengers. They are also very tough opponents and their best advantage is a rock solid defense which has conceded only seven goals (god I’m so jealous). They’ve also been scoring too, with the third best offense in the league, with 21 goals. Nancy are looking like the real deal this season, and worse, they have a game in hand.

At this point last season, Lyon were already qualified for the CL knockout rounds and had a 12 point cushion above second place (which increased to 17 by the break). But believe or not, it’s not because Lyon is doing so much more poorly than last year but that the other clubs are doing better.

It should also be noted that since 2001-2002 (the year of their first title), Lyon have NEVER won their last match before winter break.