Caen vs. Lyon

By: John | May 22nd, 2009

Will Saturday be Juninho’s Final Match for Lyon?

Week 37
Saturday May 23, 2009
Stade de Gerland
3pm EST(21:00 CET, 20:00 GMT)

Lyon is back!!! Last week’s win at the Velodrome was an emotional thing for the team and supporters. The renaissance of attacking football strategy at OL has yeilded marvelous fruit: Lyon have regained that fighting spirit that evaporated after our loss to Barca and are playing like champions again. Benzema is back to his old form, and Puel seems to have abandonded his stale defensive strategy- although it seems to me he had abandoned it a while ago, it’s just that the players weren’t doing their part for whatever reason.
It seems that innocuos looking friendly match at Evian did a world of wonders for the squad. Since that day, we’ve built on the momentum of our direction-changing win at Nantes, and we are now back on track to claim our rightful place at the table of the top European clubs.
Hopefully not letting this win get to our heads, we can refocus on the task at hand: winning our final two matches. There is still the slimmest of chances of slipping into second place, but it would involve Marseille only picking-up two points or less in their last six, which would not be impossible: OM have to play at Nancy- who are on a six game winning streak and difficult at home- and a final at the Velodrome, where they aren’t at their best vs. Rennes; but regardless, it would be nothing short of a miracle.

Saturday’s match will be dually significant: not only does OL need a win to continue their efforts to secure a CL spot, but it may also be the last time we see our beloved captain Juninho strap-on the armband and take the field for Lyon.
Juni recieved a suspension for taking of his shirt last weekend after his devasting, injury time freekick score against Marseille. It was his 44th free kick goal and 99th overall goal as an OL player. He will miss the final match against Toulouse. Juninho’s been amibiguos as to whether or not he will be back at Gerland next year. There has been interest from the Gulf but he has hinted that he may retire altogether, despite calls from teamates and full support from management to continue on. Hopefully he will get his 100th goal Saturday, putting a cap on a fine career- if he decides to retire.

Saturday, Caen come to Gerland looking to escape the haunting spector of the relegation zone. They are currently only one point clear of 17th place Sochaux, whom they sunk into the relegation zone this week, defeating them 2-0; Steve Savidan had “Benzema-esque” performance this weekend, scoring a brace in a thirteen minute span of the last half. This match is crucial for both clubs: Lyon trying to stay in the “CL Zone” and Caen trying to stay out of the relegation zone and aviod purgatory, aka relegation.

Caen’s Form: Caen are 16th in the league with an 8-13-15 record. They are 3-3 in their last six matches. Before their last win in week thirty-four, they saw a fifteen match winless streak. Caen are 9th in attack with (41) goals and (15) in attack with (44) allowed. On the road they ranked 16th with a 2-7-9 record.

History: Caen are winless vs. Lyon(0-2-7). Their last meeting ended in a 1-0 OL victory at Stade Malherbe.

Le Groupe Lyonnais: Lloris, Vercoutre- Grosso, Clerc, Mensah, Cris, Boumsong, Réveillère, Bodmer,Toulalan, Källström, Makoun, Juninho, Govou, Ederson, Pjanic, Mounier, Keita, Benzema.

Injuries: Delgado is out for the rest of the season- thigh problem- and Piquionne is still out with a adductor injury.

Line-up:

Lloris
Reveillere-Cris-Boumsong-Kallstrom
Juninho-Toulalan-Makoun
Govou-Benzema-Ederson