Aftermath: Arrests, Lasers, and Very Expensive Players

By: Inara | February 22nd, 2008

Normally I do an extensive post match review of all Champions League games, but lab has been crazy. Forgive me? In lieu of a review though, here is an assortment of news related to the game:

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This is worse than a laser attack if you ask me. Stolen from Nick.

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To all those dumbasses who thought that Karim Benzema was just desperate for a move out of Lyon this summer, think again. Before last Wednesday’s game, Lyon had already laughed at €27m offers for their young star. Now, after making Alex Ferguson drool on public TV and having him stalk Benzema in the tunnels to “greet” him, the price has more than doubled to €60m. And anyway, Benzema wants to go to Spain and basically told Manchester United to f*ck off. At least we know that Benzema will be welcomed in Italy.

Assuming Benzema continues to improve and perform well on the big stages, this price will only increase, especially if he has a good showing at Euro 2008. As things stand, Benzema will be extending his contract by another year to 2013, and his release clause has been set to €100m. Benzema is becoming so expensive that soon, only Bill Gates will be able to afford him (which makes me wonder why the hell Aulas isn’t bringing him on as an “investor”).

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Perrin has explained his reason for starting Francois Clerc instead of Hatem Ben Arfa. According to Perrin, Ben Arfa’s offensive movements as of late have been wasteful (ie selfish), which Lyon couldn’t afford against MU. Clerc was a better choice. But Perrin has said that Ben Arfa could still play in Manchester if he becomes a team player again. Ouch.

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We all heard about the “laser beam attack” on Cristiano Ronaldo. It’s typical that the English press ignored the fact that 47 fans were arrested before the game as well. Lyon police haven’t identified whether they were home or away fans, but considering that since 2000, there have only been something like 5 or 6 arrests total at the Gerland (not counting the 47 from Wednesday night), I think we can make an educated guess about the nationality of those arrested.

Just to piss the English off, Aulas invited Dr. Evil to the game.

United however has complained to UEFA because they were concerned that such lasers can cause damage. I’ve been reading different reports, some saying it was from a laser pointer and completely harmless while others saying it the laser could have had something attached to it. UEFA thinks the situation is “peculiar” and doesn’t seem to concerned about it. At most, Lyon will be slapped with a fine for having a particularly stupid fan.

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I don’t know about you guys, but I thought Jean-Alain Boumsong came out of the Twilight Zone last Wednesday. He played solidly, made very timely and efficient tackles, won all his headers, and was the pillar of our defense - to the utter disappointment of Manchester United, who were hoping that Boum Boum would be their 12th player. Instead, he was one of the best OL players that night, right after Jeremy Toulalan and Karim Benzema. So the question is, where did the old Boum Boum go, and can we keep the new one?

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According to the latest survey by Sport+Markt, a German strategy and monitoring group, the most popular club in Europe is Barcelona, with an estimated 50 million fans. Only two French clubs are in the top 20, Lyon and Marseille. Lyon is 13th with 10.4 million fans while Marseille follows closely behind at 14th, with 9.7 million fans. That makes Lyon the most popular French club in Europe (but not in France, which is a different matter).

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Oh, and Benzema plans to kick Manchster United out of the Champions League. But Perrin thinks Lyon is already out of the tournament.