Peace Cup: Lyon vs. Beşiktaş (Plus Pictures!)

By: Inara | July 25th, 2009

I’m going to keep this short because there really isn’t much to report. For some odd reason, OL have become shoddier and shoddier in updating their website with relevant information. Geez, they can afford to pay millions over the top for a dental patient, but they can’t hire a college intern to update their website? And let’s not even talk about the Premium membership, which I am bitterly regretting paying for. But that’s a rant for another day.

Tomorrow, Lyon will be taking on Beşiktaş in the opening match for Group D. It’s been a long time since they’ve faced Turkish opponents, and Beşiktaş – winners of a domestic double last season – are hardly anything to scoff at. Both teams will be taking this friendly a bit more seriously than most of the other clubs in the tournament for the simple reason that their respective seasons begin sooner, so they don’t have much time to mess around before getting into tiptop order.

Let’s bring that trophy home again!

July 25, 2009
Stade Nuevo Colombino, Huelva, Spain
2:30 ET (20:30 CET, 19:30 GMT)

Beşiktaş, like OL, have been quite active in the summer transfer market and have been the biggest spenders in Turkey so far (though it’s pocket change compared to Lyon). I’m not going to lie and claim to know much about Beşiktaş, as I’ve only ever seen them play once, and that was a while ago in the Champions League, though they do have some very good players who could wreak a great deal of havoc if Lyon aren’t careful.

One name that is sure to ring a bell is Matteo Ferrari, who recently transferred to Beşiktaş from Genoa. For those of you who can’t remember, Ferrari was on the pitch the night that Lyon lost to Roma two years ago. Another name that might sound familiar is Matias Delgado (no relation to ours), who is something of a freekick expert.

Like Lyon, Beşiktaş have certain key players injured or in light training, so they also have to deal with a trimmed squad. Still, they’ll be more challenging opponents than what we’ve faced so far, and we need the practice in order to get ready for the upcoming Champions League qualifiers (how humiliating…).

On our side of things, I have to once again curse the OL website for being so sparse with details. No word on the squad selection for tomorrow’s game, though I’m cheered to see several of the kids included for the trip. Besides Yannis Tafer and Clement Grenier, Yoann Court and Maxime Gonalans have also been invited along.

Le groupe lyonnais: Lloris, Vercoutre – Bodmer, Boumsong, Cissokho, Clerc, Cris, Grosso, Mensah, Réveillère – Bastos, Court, Delgado, Ederson, Grenier, Gonalons, Källström, Mounier, Pjanic, Makoun, Toulalan – Govou, Lisandro, Piquionne, Tafer

It seems likely that both Lisandro Lopez and Cesar Delgado will be sitting this game out. They both picked up slight knocks in training, so I guess Puel wants to keep our Argentine duo cossetted as much as possible. On the other hand, I am absolutely amazed that John Mensah is fit enough to play. When was the last time that happened?

To cap off this post, I guess I should write out what formation I expect tomorrow. Problem is, I have no idea what to expect. The friendlies against Lille and Lens aren’t really informative because in those games, it was more Puel giving everyone a change to place (hence the 100% player turnover) rather than figuring out tactics. But I’ll try anyway.

Vercoutre
Clerc – Bodmer – Mensah – Cissokho
Makoun
Mounier – Pjanic – Bastos
Piquionne

So I totally made that up. But my reasoning is sound. Mostly. The reason I have so many “second” choice players is that Lyon have a game against Porto barely two days after this one, and that match should be a lot harder. So I can see Puel wanting to rest as many key players as he can without sacrificing too much quality.

Then again, I’ve seen Puel use Lyon’s best starting eleven barely three days after a grueling Champions League encounter against Bayern, so what do I know?

And that’s all I have regarding the match. I did however find some mildly amusing photos of Lyon’s arrival in Spain, so enjoy!