Friendly: FK Partizan vs. Lyon Liveblog

By: Inara | July 23rd, 2008

I know it’s just a friendly, but it’ll be interesting to see the internationals back in action, except this time, some of our new signings and our youth will be in the mix as well. This match is also a big one for Partizan, who will be receiving their league trophy for the 2007-2008 season. Reader Nicolas will be at the match, so hopefully he’ll have lots of eye witness details for us.

This match is being held in Belgrade, Serbia. Start time is 20:00 CET, 2 PM Eastern Time. And yes, there are streaming links. Well, only two, but that’s better than nothing, right?

Keep refreshing for updates. It’s just a friendly, so I’m not going to be super intense here.

PARTIZAN 1 - 3 LYON

It might not have been the most interesting of matches, but it was still fun to watch, if only to see the new system and the new players adjust. But it’s still obvious that the players aren’t anywhere close to peak form. I saw a lot of laziness as well as a refusal to follow through on some balls. I’m sure Puel will take care of that. Pjanic, Delgado, Toulalan, and Lloris can walk away confident that they had a good game. The others need more conditioning. Benzema looked good but is still in vacation mode as well.

Also, Toulalan did get a yellow card in this game. The only one. He’s so predictable.

93:00: Game over.

92:00: Partizan doing their best to get one more goal in.

89:50: Clerc’s backheel goes directly to a Partizan keeper. Please don’t do fancy tricks within in your own penalty area. Thanks.

88:30: Grenier headed in a beautiful ball, but the Partizan keeper got a hand to it, barely.

88:00: Last substitution. Delgado out, Valdivia in.

84:00: Clerc has a pretty shot on goal, but it’s saved.

83:00: Another thing about the kids is because they are used to playing with each other, there is less hesitation between them.

82:00: Tafer scores, but it’s ruled offside. Barely.

80:00: Things are looking more disorganized for Lyon, but the younger players are making up for it in terms of intensity.

77:00: More substitutions. Pjanic out, Tafer in. Makoun out, Mehamha in. Toulalan out, Beynie in.

75:00: I hope you guys now understand why I was so insistent on Lloris coming to Lyon. He’s fearless.

73:00: Grenier is offside. Ten seconds later, he was in a great position but lost his composure.

71:00: I’m liking Delgado a lot. He’s less like Malouda and Govou in that he won’t directly engage players, and more like Ben Arfa in that he prefers to avoid them by either tricking or running past them.

68:00: Substitutions. Grenier in, Benzema out. Pied in, Govou out.

64:00: GOALLL. Benzema scores thanks to Pjanic.

63:00: Every other player looks like they just came back from vacation, but Toulalan is perfect as usual.

57:00: Lyon are giving the ball away a lot. Partizan players are able to slip through despite both Toulalan and Makoun being on the pitch.

51:00: WTF was that, Cris? He tried to clear it but instead put the ball back into the box at the feet of a Partizan player, who took a shot (which Lloris saved).

50:00: Things are slow at the moment. You can tell that the players are treating this game as exactly what it is: a friendly. I miss the intensity of competitive games.

46:00: No changes to the lineup.

HALFTIME: Lyon might be in the lead, but this game is far from over. Partizan were initially a little star struck, but as the game got on, they’ve been growing more in confidence, especially with all those supporters behind them, who went crazy at the Partizan goal. We’ll see what Puel whips up in the second half.

For me, the best players in this half were Lloris and Pjanic, and perhaps Toulalan as well. Lloris has been making tons of saves, it’s just too bad that he always ends up conceding (his tally is three in both games he’s played so far). Pjanic is playing with a maturity way beyond his years. He’s creating and taking his chances and not at all suffering from the typical new kid caution. Toulalan is doing most of the sweeping in midfield. I’m not sure what Makoun has been doing besides fouling Partizan players though.

42:00: Some nice build up play from Lyon, with a clever nutmeg from Govou. His shot is deflected out by a defender, so Lyon get a corner, but nothing happens from it.

39:00: Partizan get a free kick in Lyon’s half. It goes in the box, and another Partizan player heads it just barely over the crossbar.

38:00: Partizan score their first goal, thanks to some confusion at the back. Lloris couldn’t do much.

32:00: Makoun is fouling people a little too enthusiastically.

30:00: The match has a nice pace to it now, though you can definitely tell that the players are still somewhat unfamiliar with not only each other but the lineup. But I’m pleased at the complicity between Pjanic and Benzema.

25:00: My computer went all funky on me, and I had to restart. By the time I got back to the game, Lyon had scored TWO goals. The first one, at 16:00, was almost entirely due to Benzema, who faked the defender and keeper. His shot was deflected in by a Partizan player, so technically it’s an own goal. The second goal, at 22:00, was from a Clerc cross, which Govou shot past the keeper.

12:00: Makoun concedes a free kick in a dangerous area. Lloris sets up his first ever Lyon wall. The Partizan player’s free kick is just a bit too high.

10:30: Govou’s shot goes nowhere, as usual.

10:00: Are Lyon purposely trying to lose possession?

7:30: Pjanic took the worst corner kick ever. Benzema then has a shot on goal, but it was too high.

5:30: Partizan had a shot on goal, but Lloris saved it. I’m a little troubled by how the Partizan attacker got through. Toulalan I see hasn’t lost his touch. I have a feeling he’ll be carded in this match.

3:00: Not much is happening. Mostly the ball is going from one end to another. Pjanic is pretty involved though, which is nice to see.

Kickoff: It’s so good to have Toule and Benzema back. That is all.

Pre-match: Is it bad that I recognize the voices of the OLTV commentators? Also, I’m hearing “We are the Champions” in the background. Excellent. Player handshakes. Lyon are in their white kits. Cris is captain. And Lloris looks good in a Lyon kit.

Pre-match: Partizan’s trophy presentation is going on right now. They’re having a lot of fun, streamers and balloons everywhere.

Here is the lineup:

Lloris
Clerc - Cris - Boumsong - Grosso
Toulalan - Makoun
Pjanic
Govou - Benzema - Delgado

Bench: Hartock, Seguin, Faure, Gassama, Valdivia, Mehamha, Grenier, Beynié, Tafer, Pied