Monaco vs. Lyon

By: Inara | March 14th, 2008

Since Lyon are out of the Champions League (again), they might as well finish the title race with a bang, right? To do that, they need to erase decades of history and gain a convincing win at Monaco, something they haven’t done in eight years. And for the first time in a long time, the title race in France is too close to call.

Saturday 15, 2008
Stade Louis II, Monaco
11:00 AM Eastern Time (16:00 CET, 15:00 GMT)

Match background:

It’s hard to believe that three years ago, Monaco was a Champions League finalist and was ahead of Lyon by ten points in the league. But since then, nothing has gone right in everyone’s favorite tax free haven, and with players constantly arriving and departing, Monaco also have the dubious privilege of having five different coaches in the last three years.

This year, Monaco are currently chilling in 9th place, but due to the typically tight nature of Ligue 1, they are still within reach of a European spot for next season. With ten wins and eleven losses, it’s clear that Monaco are once again underachieving this season. Monaco have scored 29 goals so far (that is, nearly 30 goals less than Lyon) and have conceded 30.

They’ve got a host of good players, including Camel Meriem, Serge Gapke, Frederic Piquionne, and one of my favorites, Jeremy Menez (part of that U17 fantastic four). They also have a solid goalkeeper in Flavio Roma and are currently home to Sergio Almiron, who is on loan from Juventus. Monaco’s coach on the other hand makes me break out in hives. Ricardo has the amazing ability to make Scottish teams look ultra-offensive.

Monaco have one very important statistic in their favor - they have a great record against Lyon at the Stade Louis II. The last time Lyon won at Monaco was in March 2000. In the last ten years, Lyon have only won there twice and drawn just once. They lost every other time. In fact, in the 43 times Lyon have traveled to Monaco, they’ve walked away as winners only eight times (Monaco won 28 times - including last year). I don’t think I’m mistaken when I say that no other team in the world has that kind of hoodoo over Lyon.

Still, Lyon need to find a way to break this curse. They’re only six points ahead of Bordeaux, who are at home to Strasbourg this Sunday. Assuming Bordeaux win that game, Lyon will need to maintain the gap by taking the full three points from Monaco. Lyon have a tough schedule ahead of them, with a Coupe de France match against Sochaux next Wednesday, then PSG at home, and then successive trips away to Valenciennes and Marseille. So this is not the time for Lyon to screw around.

Lyon info:

Of course Lyon will be missing players due to injuries. When don’t we? Not counting the long term absentees Cleber Anderson and Patrick Muller, Lyon will be missing Juninho and Sidney Govou tomorrow. Juninho’s left thigh muscle is hurting while Govou hurt his left Achilles tendon.

Le groupe lyonnais: Coupet, Vercoutre - Grosso, Réveillère, Clerc, Boumsong, Squillaci, Cris - Toulalan, Crosas, Källström, Bodmer, Beynié - Mounier, Delgado, Keita, Ben Arfa, Benzema, Fred

Romain Beynie and Anthony Mounier are once again promoted from the reserves to the senior squad for this match.

Expected lineup:

Perrin has hinted in his pre-match press conference that he’ll be playing Fred in the center and Karim Benzema on the left. So I guess that means that Hatem Ben Arfa will once again be warming the bench. Great. With Sidney Govou out, it looks like Kader Keita should get the start, especially since he’s been looking promising in recent weeks. Cesar Delgado should also get some minutes.

Coupet
Clerc - Squillaci - Cris - Grosso
Crosas - Toulalan - Bodmer
Keita - Fred - Benzema

Juninho’s absence doesn’t chance much in midfield. Jeremy Toulalan and Mathieu Bodmer are sure to start. While Kim Kallstrom is the obvious third choice, Perrin also hinted at giving Marc Crosas, who’s been looking awfully good at practices, the start instead.

In the back, it will probably be Francois Clerc on the right since he sat out the game against Bordeaux. Perrin said that Cris won’t be rested since he needs game time to continue recovery. I’d like to see Jean-Alain Boumsong get some more time, but with the French Cup match looming ahead (where he is sure to start), we’ll probably see Sebastien Squillaci partner Cris tomorrow. No choice about Fabio Grosso, unless Perrin decides to play Anthony Reveillere at left back (for no reason, mind you).

Viewing options:

Streaming links can be found here. As always, if you find a good one, I’d appreciate it if you post it in the comments. I’ll try to do the same.

Expected result:

I’m suspecting a 1-1. I would like a win, but the Stade Louis II makes me suspicious.