CL – Lyon vs Kazan : expect no round Rubin, but rather a pretty sharp one

By: Megame | August 16th, 2011

Money, hope and pride. That’s what is at stake today. And people thought it was about a simple football game…

barrage-OL-Rubin-Kazan-Champions-League-2012

Money, because between 2003 and 2010, OL’s presence in Champions League allowed them to pocket 21 million Euros each year on average.
How does that work? Well, if Lyon succeeds in qualifying, they’ll pocket 3 million Euros. Then, the group stage (6 matches) brings 7 million Euros, plus bonuses : 800.000 Euros for a win, half that amount for a draw. Then there’s the redistribution of the “market pool”, the gains due to TV rights, allocated on the basis of media exposure of the club in each country. Thus, all in all, reaching the final could be worth some 40 million Euros… Just about what OL need to balance their accounts.

Hope, because there indeed is a fresh wind of hope among the club, initiated by the new coach Rémi Garde. His belief in the young players of the club, his insistence towards traditional values, his collaborative style, his wide acceptance by pretty much every component of the club’s community already generated more unity and hope than at any point of last season. And it seemed to show in the spirits, the style of play displayed in the first two official games we played. So, openly or more secretly, people can’t but hope: what if this was possible? What if, despite -or thanks to- an almost non-existent recruitment, we could get the club back where it belongs, or at least progress honorably?

Pride, because if OL went past this qualifying round, it would reach a record streak of 12 years of uninterrupted participation to the Champions League. Even at European level (not just for French clubs), this is a unique achievement, and should certainly justify a well earned amount of pride among the Club and for Jean-Michel Aulas in the first place. This would be all the more encouraging as before the beginning of the new L1 season Lyon has been written off the list of podium candidates by pretty much every observer of French football.

So what’s the obstacle between us and the Champions League?

haie

Funny how challenges often come in lots. As if the financial difficulties (forcing the sale of useful players such as Toulalan and preventing from hiring the necessary reinforcements) weren’t enough, OL couldn’t avoid one – and arguably the worst- of the big guns of this draw, and will face the Rubin Kazan. Former champion of Russia in 2008 and 2009, the Russian club may have lost some important players these last years, but are a strong player of a Russian championship in good progression. The last season, Rubin put up a good show in a Champions’ League group, ending third and having posed problems to FC Barcelona and Inter Milan. This season, in the previous CL qualifying round they obtained a convincing win versus Dynamo Kiev, and in the Russian championship they occupy the fourth place after 20 matchdays, only trailing Russian leader CSK Moscow by 4 points. Quite simply, it is the last team to beat Barca in Santiago Bernabeu. So, in technical terms, this is what you’d call a really shitty draw. They’re now past the mid season, whilst Lyon face them right at the start of the season, in what is their third official match… To make things worse, the return leg will take place on August 24, only a week later, at the Central stadium of Kazan.

This being said, Rubin Kazan wasn’t too happy to face Lyon either, whom they claim to know fairly well as they’ve been scouting several OL players recently (without mentioning which ones). Looking to strengthen the team, they have just reinforced their squad ahead of their Champions League play-off with OL by signing 27 y.o. striker Nelson Valdez from Hércules CF for €4m. And indeed that’s what you’d call a reinforcement : Valdez has scored 12 goals in 54 international outings, featuring in all five matches during Paraguay’s run to the 2010 FIFA World Cup quarter-finals, plus all six last month as they finished runners-up to Uruguay in the Copa América. He should be available for the second leg in Russia.

What does Rémi Garde have at his disposal to surmount the obstacle?

climb

Well, not much luxury I have to say, but the bare minimum. Largely unknown but promising and inexpensive Bakary Koné arrived before the weekend and that was just in time to fill the hole in central defense left by the injuries of Cris and Mensah. So he started right away in saturday’s game, and will be reconducted, like the rest of the team, for today’s game.
Unfortunately for the club (but fortunately for France), the golden OL U20 generation is largely missing, as Lacazette, Grenier, Faure, Reale, Tafer, Seguin just qualified for the U20 World Cup semifinals in Colombia.

The Lyon team : Lloris – Réveillère, B. Koné, Lovren, Cissokho – Briand, Gonalons, Kallström, Bastos – Gomis, Lisandro (captain).

So what can we expect?

super_bowl_odds

I just realised I had lost my usual oracle’s business card, and as my reading in fish bowels is a bit rusty, I turned to UEFA stats to try and get a feel for this game:

Previous meetings
• This is Rubin’s first meeting with any French team while Lyon’s only previous experience of Russian opposition came against FC Spartak Moskva in the second group stage of the 2000/01 UEFA Champions League – they won 3-0 at home and drew 1-1 away.

Match background
• Lyon have lost only twice in their last 18 European home fixtures, with FC Bayern München their conquerors both times. The German side won 3-2 at the Stade de Gerland in the 2008/09 group stage and 3-0 in the 2009/10 semi-finals.
• Rubin’s 2-0 victory at FC Dynamo Kyiv in the third qualifying round ended a seven-game wait for a European away win since they stunned FC Barcelona 2-1 at the Camp Nou in the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League group stage.
• Lyon have competed in every UEFA Champions League group stage since 2000/01, their most successful campaign coming in 2009/10 when they got as far as the semi-finals before going down 4-0 on aggregate to Bayern.
• Lyon have featured in UEFA Champions League qualifying on three occasions. They were denied a group-stage place by NK Maribor in 1999/2000, losing 3-0 over two legs, but subsequently beat FK Senica (2000/01, agg: 4-2) and RSC Anderlecht (2009/10, agg: 8-2).

So, tonight more than ever, allez l’OL!

Some Related Lyon Posts:

Category: Team News and Rumors

« Ajaccio! Bless You! | Home | Run Through Game Three? »

Megame

Liverpool rumored to prepare 8M€ bid for Cissokho, in which case that's likely to happen. To replace him, target could be Davide Santon, 20 y.o. italian international loaned last season by Inter Milan to Cesena.
Russ

BREAKING NEWS ALL: Edouard Cisse has just left OM to sign a 3-year deal with Auxerre. Surely this means that the door is officially open to sign our man N'dinga...
Megame

They deny any link between the two transfers... We'll see.
Less than 2 weeks to go...
pierrot

looks like the plan is to try to seal the n'dinga deal, and if that doesn't happen, sign diarra, who continues to train at tola-vologe, apparently.
Michael

I hate Stade Rennais F.C !!!!!!!!
Aditya

Why so?
Michael

Just like Nikola said,our hometown club lost yesterday.Atmosphere at the stadium was amazing :)
Theo

Zvezda played good, Partizan couldn't beat an amateur club from Ireland.
Nikola Burazer

Rennes defeated Red Star in Belgrade 2:1 last night and Michael is probably a Red Star fan just like me :)
Aditya

Oh! I like them too, but after Ligue 1 clubs & Monaco.
Aditya

Oops..sorry for re-post..but I meant to say except Monaco.
Megame

... Good news then that Monaco no longer is in Ligue 1 !
Theo

Why? I liked them.
Megame

I was just replying to Aditya's comment saying he liked Belgrade, but after Ligue 1 clubs except Monaco: he doesn't have to make a separate case for Monaco versus the rest of Ligue 1 clubs, as Monaco is in Ligue 2 this year. That's what I meant... Nothing to do with me not liking Monaco, for which I have a lot of sympathy.
Michael

I can't wait to see these kids in action :)
@df23f7bb04743fa8e08728529907b7a6:disqus Nista se nije otvorilo,gde da se registrujem? :S
Theo

There is much potential for sure. I don't know what happened to Tafer. He was a big talent but it looks like he won't make it too the pro's.

Michael - lyon-forums.com
john

Toulouse didn't want him, and they were using loaned players and wingers as strikers, so that was a sign. Don't understand: he showed the same potential as Belfodil when he got his few minutes here and there.
Megame

Tonight, in 1 hour in Colombia, the French U20 squad will be playing a semifinal against Portugal.
Faure, Kolo and Grenier were supposed to start, but the first of these two defenders got injured and will be replaced by fellow young Lyonnais Fontaine. Lacazette, nicknamed "supersub" as he's mostly been a substitute so far,( and yet managed to become the current leading French scorer) might well be starting this time.
Good luck to them...
john

I haven't been able to watch a single one of these games. How do they normally utilize Laca? @striker or SMF? What about Grenier, CMF or SMF?
Theo

Lacazette mostly played as main striker and Grenier was their playmaker.
john

Laca is so small. Does he do better on the wing, or does it matter?
Theo

Not starting Lacazette will be a big mistake. France is already losing 0-1.
Megame

And 0-2 now. It's over I guess...
Maybe we get some young players back in time for Kazan...
Megame

That's it, super defensive Portugal won, and Metz defender Koulibaly is involved in the two goals conceded... Lacazette could not make a difference, Portugal's defence was too tight.. They are still to concede a goal in this competition. Not the nicest of footballs, but it works obviously.
Luke99

Gomis is a world class striker u can just tell by the goals he scored for us in the past 2 seasons most of his goals are top class goals the only problem with this guy is that he works on motivation just look at him when the team coach and fans are behind him he plays like drogba and he was one of the main reasons we finshed 3 last season Gourcuff is bit like him too but the only problem is Gourcuff is more sensistive plus the media like to bash on him but im really looking forward to seeing him play under Garde and i think Cissokho and pjanic were fasting or somthing coz pjanic didnt start the game and it was pretty seriouse game too
john

Kim and Gonalons seem to be working just fine- haven't seen but one league match- and Garde wasn't going to shake anything up, like starting Pjanic instead of Kallstrom in such a critical match. they needed a more defensive midfield with a 4-4-2 and two young CBs- one with no CL experience and starting his second match with the club- starting. We may see Pjanic start in the league to give Kim a rest. But it seems to me that Pjanic is much better coming off the bench.
Aleksander

I think Pjanic might be used on the wing more often than in the centre if we keep the 4-4-2, which I don't mind because then he will be able to get forward more and to dribble and link up with Lisandro.
john

Pjanic said in a recent interview that he prefers being behind the strikers, but had to play where the coach put him- on the right- and had to make the best of it. Didn't seem too enthused about playing on the wing, but beggers can't be choosers, so he'll have to be happy with what he gets and make the most of it.
Aleksander

Yes indeed, his natural position is behind the striker in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-1-2, but if we keep the 4-4-2 he'll have to play on the wing, and I think that may suit him better than playing in the centre, where he would have to be more defensive... IMO he is too good to be left on the bench anyway, and when he is back to full fitness he should replace Briand.
pierrot

i respect kallstrom's loyalty and dedication to the team, and he has made his contributions over the years, but i've always thought he was an erratic, and in the end pretty mediocre player. He seems to be doing "ok" so far, against lesser opposition. i'm pleased by gonalons this term. while still a considerable distance from finished product, i think he's showing, once again, that he may mature into a formidable box to box MF. sure would be nice to get a DM in remainder of transfer window who we can be confident in at the highest level, and who gonalons can take over from in 2-3 years.
john

Kallstrom is simply a veteran player who can be relied upon right now to provide a counterbalance to Gonalons' youth and inexperience. But when Gourcurff gets back, he will be relegated to the bench. Gonalons will also be sitting on the bench, once we get an experienced DM.
Theo

Calling Gomis a world class striker is a little too much I think :)
Luke99

TRUE but i really do like the goals he scores
Boz

Wow, what a difference a sacking makes. If only JMS had the cash to do this some 2 years ago....

I know it's early still but lets have a show of hands: Who's not happy with what wev've seen so far....thought so...very few if any.

Someone said earlier, this is what happens when you replace duty with motivation. Could not have been said better. When the youngsters return and a few start to play (and I belive they will....) I think we'll see even more polayers off the leash.

Did anyone else see Lloris smile at the end of the match last night? Finally...
@c7f0470871f8818dfbc002505d94b99f:disqus
Entrance to Gerland to see Lyon smack Rubin Kazan - €X
To see Lyon play so well in Europe under a new (and impressive coach) - €X
To see the face of Puel when he realised last night the same Lyon team he had was better than he thought....PRICELESS.

Remi for President!

Allez Lyonnais!
Aleksander

Anyone got a download link for the match?
Michael

What is going on with Gourcuff ? Is he gonna get back soon? :)
carvivlie

With his ankle op not until at least September and then its going to take him awhile to get match fit. I don't expect him to be 100% with us until October.
Michael

Too long.. :(
Theo

Ne budi tuzan!
Michael

Hahah,fali nam jedan takav igrac na sredini!
Theo

Sorry Megame for this weird dialoge. :)
Michael said that we need someone like Gourcuff right now ;)

De klikni na Theo i registruj se Michael!
Megame

It's a pity for Bafe that the second goal was considered an own goal by UEFA...
john

These players look they've had an immense weight lifted of of them, and these offensive players are playing like they've been let off a very tight leash. Thank God Puel is gone! Too bad it took so long to can him.
john

I can't believe Bastos missed the potential 4th goal.
Megame

I think he didn't realize the defender was on him.
carvivlie

Too bad because after all of his hard work it would have been nice for him to get a goal.
KeLT27

It's super - 3-1!
All were very great today, especially Gomis. Yeah, I should said that after first season at Lyon I was one of Bafe "haters" and didn't like his play at all. Also Gomis in one interview said, that he understands, that he wasn't good in his debut season, but if he would leave, that means that he gives up.
As we see, he worked (works) very hard and it's his 3-rd season and he is really fantastic. Huge progress!! What a piece of play he shown in front when Bastos should make 4-1!)

Next match with Brest. Only victory! Allez Lyonnais!!
carvivlie

I think it took awhile for him and Licha to gel too. Bafe has an interesting style--I don't think its laziness. I think he can lull defenses into complacency--he counters Licha's aggressive play.
john

I understand all the Bafe-bashing and I get frustrated at his erratic play alot: unexplainable lack of finishing, flopping, slowness, etc., but when you look back at the end of the season, you notice he slowly but surely pieces togehter overall, solid performances in both Europe and domestically. If he could become consistent he'd be... well...we wouldn't be able to hold on to him, that's for sure.
KeLT27

The last sentence says all.
Luke99

thats soo true
Michael

Kone is very good!
Megame

What do you guys think of this new recruit?
carvivlie

He looks slight in build to me. I fear he will get hustled off the ball by more physically strong players.
john

Looks better than Cris to me. Then again, that's not very hard as of late. And for 2mill, who can complain? Still, haven't seen him really tested on the ground yet.
Theo

I would start him instead of Cris and the other, forgot his name.
Megame

If you forget his name, just ask OL's doctor, he will tell you. ;)
Michael

Hahaha,doctor will be very busy this season ;)
Aditya

For all you know...the doc might just get angry and demand that he be a part of "Transfer policy" :P.
Megame

Those who couldn't watch the game are strongly encouraged to watch it.
For links, I'm sure we can count on MattAU ...
Thanks in advance
Michael

Great game!!
Megame

What a match! Lyon in control of the game for most of the time...
muadz matmu

i just hope lyon plays like this during the away leg
Megame

I'm crossing fingers...
Theo

This Rubin side is not as strong as I thought. We didn't played good and still dominated (except the first minutes in the second half).

Btw. We are starting to score "ManU like" goals. :)
Megame

They did surprise the players, as they kept trying to play; they normally play more defensively. Maybe they were not really comfortable with a style of play they're not used to...
Aditya

They clearly came to score as many away goals as possible. Injuries and deviating from the normal style affected them. But credit to Lyon in winning 3-1. Now that Rubin will chase the game in Russia, Lyon can counter attack and get some away goals to seal the tie.
Megame

That's it! 3-1 full time!
Sam

Great result and performance from the team. Bastos always looks so sharp in Champions League! Team seems to be playing with a bit of flair and a smile, great to see the end of Puel - what a crap regime that really was.
Megame

That's what you get when you replace duty by motivation ...
muadz matmu

3-1 yay!
muadz matmu

lisandro -__-
Allez lyon

Gomis got greedy and waited until he knew he was going to be able to score to pass
Allez lyon

was not going to be able to score to pass
Allez lyon

no no no...we need to build up this lead to ensure advancing to the next stage
Megame

Pied on for Briand
Megame

Free-kick well taken by Kallström, superb header from Briand....
Megame

Yay!! 3-1!!
Allez lyon

Bravo Briand
Megame

Problem is, 1/3 of Rubin Kazan's goals are scored in the last 15 minutes...
Megame

We lost control of the game... that sucks
sdzsdz

need to wake up quick...rubin's getting more and more menacing
pierrot

too many long punts to nowhere - looks like premiership, ca 1983. and SLOPPY!!!
Allez lyon

That change is looking like a bad idea, Bastos was contributing so much offensively
Megame

I think Garde is not happy with Cissokho's defending
john

Garde is right. Cissokho was great moving foward but his marking was shit.
Megame

Pjanic on for Cissokho??? WTF???
Allez lyon

Bastos will surely drop back, but at what cost
sdzsdz

wow bafe! lets get more gols to secure it! allez allez!
Allez lyon

By the way Megame, yet another fantastic article
Megame

Err, well... thanks.
Megame

2-1 half time. Very entertaining game.
Valentin

Gomis is magic today.
Nikhil Apte

:D :D
Allez lyon

Gomis.....speechless
Ian Oconnor6

any good links mine keep getting jacked due to copywrite
pierrot

http://www.sportz-for-free.org...

is working ok - then it went out for the 2nd goal!! what happened?? bafe sounds like?
john

Bastos is on fire! He really wants to go to Serie A next year! Even if it's with a promoted team.
john

When are they going to fix this problem with defense on set pieces?
john

For all of you "fans" of Gomis, there you go!