Lyon vs. Sedan, a Sixth Title?

By: Inara | April 13th, 2007

Under most circumstances, Sunday’s match against Sedan – a side unlikely to escape relegation despite their best efforts – would inspire little fear among the Lyon players.

But this is the same Sedan that provided Lyon with its most embarrassing win of the year. Of all the victories that Lyon has accumulated this season, Lyon’s victory over Sedan was due to an own goal. How embarrassing. And while Sedan has conceded the most goals in Ligue 1, don’t bank on Lyon to score a lot. This season has proved to be Lyon’s worst run of form since the early eighties, and coupled with a scoring crisis – well, I’ll be happy if the score line is as stingy as 1-0.

Some pre-match information:

Belhadj All eyes will be on Sedan left back Nadir Belhadj, who is on loan from Lyon. He just signed a contract in January and has agreed to spend the remainder of the season with Sedan to help them fight relegation. This is the first time that Belhadj will be playing at the Stade de Gerland, and I’m sure he’ll get an especially warm welcome from the supporters.

Milan Baros will be suspended, and Fred won’t be playing either (he came late to training yesterday, so Houllier is punishing him). Though Karim Benzema is also out injured, and Sidney Govou and Sylvain Wiltord have been sick recently, Florent Malouda can play as centre forward, and Hatem Ben Arfa may return to first team action, along with Gregory Bettiol and Loic Remy.

The midfield and defense setup should be normal. If Juninho doesn’t play, Kallstrom will be taking his place. If Toulouse, Lens, and Bordeaux lose on Saturday, Claudio Cacapa might take the place of Squillaci. The former Lyon captain has formally refused a contract extension since he can’t be guaranteed playing time, and Houllier might allow him to play in his last title winning match at Lyon.

Title winning match?, you ask? But it’s only April.

If Lyon wins this Sunday, and if Bordeaux, Toulouse and Lens lose (not likely but I can hope), then Lyon will officially have won its sixth domestic championship because there is no way the other teams could catch up, even if Lyon lost for the rest of this season.

Not that Lyon winning the title is a surprise. Le Championnat has been sewn up since last December, and the only questions since then have been a) when Lyon would win the title, b) who will be in second, and c) who will get relegated.

Party already over?

I wish I could muster more enthusiasm though.

Many supporters of other clubs get a little annoyed at Lyon’s attitude towards the title – after all, what they can only dream about, for Lyon, it’s been there, done that. I’m not trying to sound ungrateful or anything, because once Lyon wins this title, they will have a special place in the history books as the first club from a major European league to win six consecutive domestic championships. And barring a major upheaval in France this summer, Lyon will probably win the next few titles as well. But though winning a domestic title demands a lot out of a team, and Lyon certainly deserves it for not giving into the chaos and instability of the rest of Ligue 1, it’s hard to get excited about something that’s already been theirs for several months. And when coupled with the fact that they were kicked out of the Coupe de France and the Champions League, and losing in the Coupe de la Ligue final, it’s hard for many of the players to feel anything except a sense of failure at being unable to take that next step.

But still, not all Lyonnais are jaded. For Kim Kallstrom, Jeremy Toulalan, Alou Diarra, Milan Baros, Sebastian Squillaci, and Fabio Santos, this will be their first Ligue 1 title. And I think a sixth domestic trophy will being a smile to even Juninho’s depressed face.