Fiorentina vs. Lyon: Going to Florence Without an Arm…and a Leg

By: Inara | November 25th, 2008

To recap the situation in Lyon’s Champions League group, Lyon and Bayern are level with eight points, with Lyon on top due to more goals scored. Fiorentina lie in third with three points, but at the moment, they have a better head to head record against Lyon. Steaua are fourth with only a single point and can only contend for a spot in the UEFA Cup. How things break down for Lyon is like this: They need to either win or draw today in order to qualify for the next round. To get top spot in the group, Lyon need to win or draw against Bayern (assumiing they beat Fiorentina as well).

Before this weekend, I thought that Lyon had a really decent chance of getting a win in Italy and at the very least, a draw, despite the fact that Lyon seem to suffer a curse when playing Italian teams. However, with the injuries piling up, I’m not very optimistic about anything. Fiorentina are difficult opponents, and they will be at home. They know they need a win if they are to have any chance of making it to the next round, and furthermore, they are still peeved over their last encounter with Lyon.

November 25, 2008
Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence
2:45 PM ET (20:45 CET, 19:45 GMT)

Match background:

I wrote background information on Fiorentina here, so I won’t repeat any of that. Instead, I’ll get all of us up to speed on how they’ve been doing since our first encounter back in September.

Fiorentina are currently in 6th place, with seven wins, two draws, and four losses. In Serie A, they’ve scored 18 goals and have conceded 12. Their top two scorers are Alberto Gilardino with nine goals and Adrian Mutu with four goals. In the Champions League, they have scored only 3 goals and have conceded 6 (Gilardino and Mutu are their goalscorers).

Currently, Fiorentina are fortunate in their injuries. Only two players did not make the team sheet, Marco Donadel who is out with an injured ankle and Martin Jorgensen with an injured foot. Dario Danielli is declared fit after his bout of gastroenteritis. Daniel Osvaldo has recovered from his muscle strain and Per Kroldrup is fit after his ankle injury.

As I said before, Fiorentina must win if they are to have a chance of qualifying. But even if they win at Lyon, it doesn’t guarantee them anything because then they need to defeat Steaua Bucharest while simultaneously hoping that Bayern defeat Lyon. So things are complicated for them. But they are determined and have certainly accumulated more experience since their first encounter with Lyon.

Lyon are on top with eight points and a better goal differential than Lyon, but having played Steaua in their double header, they have Fiorentina and Bayern left, with those two teams each have games against Steaua (not that Steaua are easy, but that they are easier than the other teams in the group). In L1, they are in 1st place with ten wins, three draws, and two losses. They’ve scored 21 goals and conceded 10. In the CL, Lyon scored 10 goals and conceded 6.

Puel has said that he hopes to get at least a point from this encounter while Cesar Prandelli said that he wants all three points. I certainly hope this isn’t an indication of the level of motivation between the two coaches. Even with a depleted squad, Lyon should be demanding wins.

Lyon info:

Who isn’t injured? Lyon are missing Mathieu Bodmer, Francois Clerc, Miralem Pjanic, Fabio Santos, Cesar Delgado, and Anthony Reveillere for this trip.

Worse yet, Lamine Gassama and Fabio Grosso are waiting on last minute fitness tests.

Le groupe lyonnais: Lloris, Vercoutre – Gassama, Kolodziejczak, Mensah, Cris, Grosso, Boumsong, Faure – Toulalan, Makoun, Källström, Ederson, Juninho – Piquionne, Fred, Benzema, Mounier, Keita, Govou.

To compensate, both Sebastien Faure and Timothee Kolodziejczak have been included in the group. It’s a pretty sad day when three of Lyon’s seven defenders are from the reserves.

Tactical lineup:

This section makes me cry. Really. I’m guessing it will be a 4-3-3. We can’t afford a more experimental 4-4-2 with a weakened squad. Though depending on how the game is progressing, Puel may opt to change things around later. However, no matter what lineup Puel chooses, it’ll be difficult because ALL players have been under performing recently. I can’t point to a single one that has been playing well (besides Jeremy Toulalan, who always plays well).

Lloris
Gassama – Cris – Boumsong – Grosso
Juninho – Toulalan – Makoun
Govou – Benzema – Ederson

That backline makes me weep. No choice about the CBs, but if Lamine Gassama can’t play, Sidney Govou might find himself back there, or perhaps even Jeremy Toulalan. Hell, Puel might put himself back there! If Fabio Grosso can’t play, then Timothee Kolodziejczak will be making his second professional appearance ever.

In midfield, no choice about Juninho and Jeremy Toulalan. I’d normally think that Jean II Makoun would be starting alongside of them, but he’s been invisible the last few weeks while Kim Kallstrom has been a lot better. But will Kallstrom and Toulalan be enough? It’ll be a judgment call by Puel.

Up front, Karim Benzema will start, the question is where. I just might slit my wrists if Puel starts Fred up top and Benzema on the left. Unfortunately, besides Benzema, the rest of Lyon’s offensive armada has been utter crap in recent weeks. Sidney Govou is a shadow of his former self since returning from injury, Kader Keita has been a shadow of his former self since coming from Lille. Ederson is the new “old” Cesar Delgado, and Anthony Mounier has hardly played since his emergence over a month back. Fred sucks and Frederic Piquionne has hardly played. At this point, I’d rather Benzema just play alone up front and put an extra player in the midfield and one in the defense (a 5-4-1?).

Viewing options:

Setanta will have this game on delayed broadcast at 7:30 PM tonight. That’s pretty damned useless. You can find streams here or buy a stable one from UEFA.com.

Expected results:

I have no idea, and I don’t want to jinx anything by guessing. So let’s just all hold hands and pray that Lyon come out of this encounter alive. Please, no more injuries. A win would also be very nice.