Liverpool vs. Lyon, aka Pjanic Time

By: Inara | October 19th, 2009

Pardon the super cheesy title, but after reading Miralem Pjanic’s super inspiring interview this morning, I felt…well, super. Lyon are in first place in their CL group, Liverpool are in the unwelcome position of being in third, and both teams are coming off of weekend losses in their domestic leagues. Both sides are also riddled with injuries to key players, ~~and both were coached by Gerard Houllier~~.

kallstromrafa

Kongo Kim sees Rafa sneaking into the Lyon training session.

October 20th, 2009
Anfield, Liverpool
2:45 PM ET (20:45 CET, 19:45 GMT)

Match Background:

I don’t care what EPL fans say about how winning their league is more important than progressing in Europe, it’s crucial for Liverpool to at least qualify for the knockout rounds, or else he’ll be short 20 million euros during the next summer transfer window. So even though Liverpool have a massive game against Manchester United next weekend, you can bet that all of Rafa Benitez’s attention will be on tomorrow’s game. Unfortunately, that puts OL in a tougher position – instead of facing a somewhat complacent team, they’ll have to face extra determined players. For Liverpool, it’s imperative that they win all their games at home if they want to keep their dreams of qualifying alive.

Lyon, obviously, have different plans. Claude Puel has his own tough schedule to contend with, with matches against St. Etienne, Marseille, and Liverpool again within the next month, so for OL, the sooner they can earn those 11 points (which is about what we’d need to safely qualify for the knockout stages), the better. But before we get into all that, let’s talk about those Reds.

Their season so far has been lukewarm at best, and having lost their last three matches (to Fiorentina, Chelsea, and Sunderland, respectively), Liverpool have fallen seven points behind league leaders Manchester United. Rafa is desperate to get things back on track, and he’ll be hoping that tomorrow’s game, which is at home for them, will be the place to start. I’m not going to talk too much about them, since as a club, they are fairly well known, but for those who are like me and therefore completely ignorant of football outside of France, I’ll just touch on some of their key players.

Team captain Steven Gerrard is probably the one to watch out. A Liverpool youth product (crazy, I know), he has a ton of European experience and even a CL trophy under his belt. For a midfielder, he gets quite a few goals, both from in the box and from a distance. Javier Mascherano, who was out for a while due to injury, is back to full fitness. And let’s not forget their goalkeeper Pepe Reina, as well as Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel (whom Lyon almost bought a few years ago), who can be potent goal threats. Also of note is the presence of Damien Plessis, a Lyon youth product who left France two summers ago in search of more playing time. As for their coach, Rafa is no slouch in the tactics department, having maneuvered Liverpool to two CL finals, one of them which he won. He’s known for extensively researching opposition teams down to the last detail (and perhaps too strong of an attachment to the concept of squad rotation…).

Currently, they’re in 8th place in their domestic championship, having accumulated 15 points. They’ve notched five wins and four losses, having scored 22 goals and conceded 13. In the Champions League so far, they won their first match against Debrecen thanks to a single goal from Dirk Kuyt, and they lost their second game to Fiorentina thanks to the crazy powers of Steven Jovetic.

Going back to Lyon, Puel will also be hoping that the weekend defeat to Sochaux – the first loss of the season – won’t put a damper on the momentum Lyon have gained over the last two months. Juggling with injuries has made things tough in recent weeks, but thankfully, Lyon’s main rivals have been having problems of their own, so the L1 title race is still wide open. Right now, Lyon are tied in 1st place with surprise package Montpellier. Bordeaux are a point behind in second while Marseille are three points behind (but in 5th place). OL have won six games, drawn two, and lost one, having scored 15 goals and conceded 7. Their performance in the CL has been good so far, with two wins out of two, six goals scored and none conceded.

Tomorrow will no doubt be a tense match for both sides – Liverpool fearing their chances of qualification and Lyon needing to convincingly win against a big team abroad. The two clubs have never played each other (not even in a friendly!), but instead of being nervous, OL players are excited because they’re visiting a stadium they’ve never played in before. The Champions League is all about magic, so let’s hope we’ll see some tomorrow night!

Team Info:

The big question mark leading up to this match has naturally involved Liverpool. Both Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres picked up groin injuries during international week, but while Gerrard was able to shake his off, Torres will be missing tomorrow’s match. Sotiris Kyrgiakos and Alberto Aquilani will also be watching from the sidelines as they recuperate from knee and ankle injuries.

Le groupe de Liverpool: Reina, Cavalieri – Johnson, Carragher, Agger, Skrtel, Insua, Aurelio, Dossena – Benayoun, Riera, Gerrard, Mascherano, Lucas, Darby, Plessis, Spearing – Babel, Voronin, Kuyt, Ngog

So there is some good news and bad news if you are a Lyon fan. The good news is that Lisandro Lopez and Michel Bastos are back. Cris has also shaken off last week’s injury scare, and Jeremy Toulalan is still healthy and as-of-yet unsuspended. The bad news is that Mathieu Bodmer, Jean-Alain Boumsong, and Cleber Anderson - three of Lyon’s four CBs – are still out. To make things even more unbelievable, the usual defenders whom Puel calls up from the CFA team are also injured. Sebastien Faure, Nicolas Seguin, and Thomas Fontaine are also out.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the real reason Lyon never sign any defenders because that position on our team is cursed.

Le groupe lyonnais: Lloris, Vercoutre – Cris, Réveillère, Clerc, Cissokho, Kolodziejczak – Toulalan, Källström, Gonalons, Makoun, Pjanic, Bastos, Delgado, Ederson, Govou – Belfodil, Tafer, B.Gomis, Lisandro

Besides Timothée Kolodziejczak, Puel doesn’t even have any replacements for the missing defenders. Maxime Gonalons, Ishak Belfodil, and Yannis Tafer will also be accompanying the senior team, but don’t expect any of them to play.

Expected Lineup:

We’ll definitely be seeing Jeremy Toulalan partner Cris in central defense. On the right, I expect to see Anthony Reveillere, and on the left, Aly Cissokho, who has turned into Mr. Champions League. In the middle, Kim Kallstrom was rested over the weekend so that he would be fit for tomorrow, as was Miralem Pjanic, who only came on towards the end of Lyon’s game against Sochaux. Those two are logical starters to accompany Jean II Makoun, who will be the lone DM. There is also the possibility of utilizing Francois Clerc in right midfield, but I don’t think it would be wise to chance it, not if it means we have to sacrifice Pjanic.

Up front, it’s the deadly trio (who weren’t at all deadly last Saturday) of Lisandro Lopez, Bafetimbi Gomis, and Michel Bastos. The only change I can imagine is if Puel drops Gomis to put in Clerc at RW.

Lloris
Reveillere – Cris – Toulalan – Cissokho
Pjanic – Makoun – Kallstrom
Bastos – Gomis – Lisandro

Viewing Options:

Ironically, now that ESPN no longer has Champions League viewing rights, the usual English domination of CL broadcasting has ended, as Fox Soccer Channel makes more of an effort to show games from a variety of leagues. Which means that Lyon will not be broadcast live in the US. The only way to watch it live is if you A) live in another country with better broadcasting rights, B) subscribe to DirectTV, Sportsnet Ontario, or Skysports HD, or C) are actually going to Anfield. Otherwise, you can wait until 10 PM Eastern time for FSC to show the match on tape delay.

OR, you can foray into the unreliable world of streaming. You can try to find a working here, or you can chuck out $10 and buy one from UEFA.com. Hopefully you’ll be able to find a good stream, as this is one of the bigger matches tomorrow. Remember, sharing is caring, and if you find a working stream, please share!

If you’d rather skip out on the streaming drama altogether, you can follow along on liveblog. Both Football365.fr and Lequipe.fr will have good ones, as will the OL website, where you can also follow along with free audio commentary – though be warned, it’s all in French. (About an hour before the match, I’ll update this section with the links to the liveblogs.)

Expected Result:

Even without Torres, Liverpool are a dangerous side to face with a lot of attacking threats. And it’s not like Lyon have the optimum defensive cover. BUT…I think Lyon can manage to get at least a point out of tomorrow’s trip. The most important thing is for the players to keep their cool and not allowed themselves to get intimidated by the stakes.