CdF FINAL: Lyon vs. PSG

By: Inara | May 23rd, 2008

Is this the day that Lyon end a 35 year dry spell in the Coupe de France?

Is this the day that Lyon win their first ever double?

Is this the day that Lyon finally rise above one of the worst injury crises in their history?

Is this the day that Lyon finally make us believe?

May 24, 2008
Stade de France, Paris
3 PM Eastern Time (21:00 GMT, 20:00 CET)

Match background:

Well, here we are at the end of the season. We’ve played 59 games so this year, won 38 of them, drew 9, and lost 12. We’ve won the league, lost out in the Champions League and the Coupe de la Ligue. The only thing that stands between this year being a mediocre season and a special season is this final. Lyon haven’t won the Coupe de France since 1973, back when Raymond Domenech played for us. Winning this trophy - the one domestic achievement that is missing in the Aulas era - would allow them to join the select group of clubs who have also won the league + cup double (it’s only happened 14 times before).

But Lyon aren’t the only ones who want to make history. PSG, who have had a difficult season themselves, also have the chance of winning a double - in their case, the cup double. They’ve already won the Coupe de la Ligue by narrowly beating Lens, and what a better way to cap off their season than to achieve a feat that only they themselves have accomplished twice before - winning the cup double (1995 and 1998).

This final is also significant because it’s the final goodbyes of two key players - Gregory Coupet will be playing his last match for Lyon while Pauleta will be doing the same for PSG. So both players will be striving to put in worthy performances.

I’m sure most of us are very familiar with PSG and the talented players they have at their disposal, so I won’t go over it again. But here’s a frightening stat - Pauleta has scored 44 goals in 41 French Cup matches for PSG. Also, PSG have won this cup twice in the last four years (seven total).

Road to the final:

R32: Créteil 0 - 4 Lyon
R16: Croix de Savoie 0 - 1 Lyon
R8: Lyon 2 - 1 Sochaux
QF: Lyon 1 - 0 Metz
SF: Lyon 1 - 0 Sedan

R32: Epinal 0 - 2 PSG
R16: Le Poiré / vie 1 - 3 PSG
R8: PSG 2 - 1 Bastia
QF: Carquefou 0 - 1 PSG
SF: Amiens 0 - 1 PSG

As you can see, Lyon and PSG had nearly identical campaigns in the Coupe de France so far (that is, crappy). So it’ll be interesting to see how these two clubs match up against each other. Lyon have the advantage in that they won both their games against PSG this year, though again, PSG is more than capable of creating a huge upset.

Lyon info:

Jean-Alain Boumsong has passed a late fitness test and will be part of the players Alain Perrin can call up for the match. Cris is suspended unfortunately while Patrick Muller has already left to meet up with the Swiss National Team.

Le groupe lyonnais: Coupet, Vercoutre – Cris, Squillaci, Boumsong, Clerc, Réveillère, Grosso – Bodmer, Juninho, Källström, Toulalan, Crosas, Delgado, Ben Arfa, Govou, Keita, Benzema, Fred

No kids made the squad, which is unfortunate because that’s the tradition in cup tournaments. But winning is more important, and Lyon are taking this very seriously by putting forward their best available squad.

Expected lineup:

Coupet
Reveillere - Squillaci - Boumsong - Grosso
Juninho - Toulalan - Kallstrom
Govou - Fred - Benzema

I’m guessing Anthony Reveillere will be starting due to his strong performances in the last few weeks. At any rate, that should make Raymond Domenech happy because that means that Francois Clerc will be well rested. With Cris out, that means that Sebastien Squillaci and Jean-Alain Boumsong have to play. Same goes with Fabio Grosso.

In midfield, no surprise about Juninho and Jeremy Toulalan. Kim Kallstrom would probably get the nod just because he’s been the starter all year, and you don’t bench him for the final. Plus he scored in the last game and looked pretty good too. Also, with no central defenders left on the bench, Mathieu Bodmer will be kept available in case of an emergency.

Up front, Sidney Govou makes his return now that he sat out his suspension against Auxerre. Karim Benzema is sure to start - the question is, where? As much as I would like Benzema as the lone striker with Hatem Ben Arfa on the left, Perrin will no doubt stick Benzema on the side and Fred in the center. That yielded results against Auxerre, but honestly, it doesn’t fill me with confidence.

Viewing options:

Setanta will be broadcasting this match. You can also find streams here. Remember, if you find a good stream, please share!

Expected result:

Logic and past history tells me that PSG will be the happy ones tomorrow, but screw it. Lyon are so totally winning this. I’m also expecting a lot of goals. Both sides tend to enjoy conceding against the other.