The Second Battle of the Olympiques: Marseille vs. Lyon

By: Inara | April 5th, 2008

This is it, guys. The clash of the titans, the SuperClassico, the game of the year. But whatever you call this match, it’s France’s two biggest teams facing off against each other in what is sure to be an electric encounter.

Marseille vs. Lyon may lack the history and passions of a derby or the desperation of a title/relegation battle, but if you want to see the best L1 has to offer, this game would be it. Regardless of their domestic destinies, the quality of football on display will take your breath away. Marseille and Lyon are French football, and they won’t let you forget it. So sit back and enjoy the show!

March 6, 2008
Stade Velodrome, Marseille
2:55 PM Eastern Time (20:55 CET, 19:55 GMT)

Obligatory pre-match sniping:

Marseille coach Eric Gerets was a partypooper last week when he asked Pape Diouf not to engage in his usual trash talking before a match against Lyon. Good thing Diouf didn’t listen, though his comments haven’t been as incendiary as they usually are. Even Jean-Michel Aulas, who can usually be counted on to bait Marseille, is being mind numbingly grown up about it, which is disappointing since these two presidents are sometimes even more interesting than the clubs they represent.

However, in a recent joint interview that was published on Lyon’s official website, there are some interesting little comments that bring a smile to my face. Only the first part has been posted so far, but the others should be up soon. My favorite parts where when Diouf said that Aulas was egocentric while Aulas that if he could make a dream signing, it’d be Franck Ribery!

Gregory Coupet is also helping to fan the flames. A few days ago, he said that it was easier to win at Marseille than at Valenciennes, which in turn pissed of Marseille, who essentially promised to make Coupet eat his words. Coupet later tried to calm those very same flames by saying that he only meant that it’s easier to want to win at Marseille than Valenciennes…Sure Greg, whatever you say. Magnusson has more on this matter at the Marseille Offside.

Match background:

The last time these two teams met, it was back in early November. At the time, Lyon were in their usual top spot, but Marseille were chilling in the depths of the relegation zone in 19th place. Fast forward to April, where Marseille are now in fourth place and within reach of a Champions League spot (though Lyon haven’t moved out of first).

Marseille has a whole host of talented players, the most famous being Samir Nasri. He’s been out of form in the past two months, but recently, he’s been improving and had a great performance with the France National Team against Mali, where he scored a goal. There is also Mahamdou Niang, who I think is one of the most underrated players in France. He’s their top scorer with 13 league goals. Djibril Cisse is also in good form, having netted 11 goals so far. And let’s not forget the impressive Lorik Cana, Mathieu Valbuena, and Steve Mandanda. So yeah, Marseille have tons of quality.

Both Lyon and Marseille are out of Europe and are in contention for only one domestic cup (though I have to say that Lyon have yet to suffer the embarrassment of losing to Carquefou). In terms of points, Marseille are 15 points adrift of Lyon and have almost no chance of catching up to them. With 44 goals scored and 33 conceded, they have the third best attack in the league, but their defense is about average.

Lyon on the other hand have scored 64 goals (20 more than Marseille!) and conceded 29, which gives them the best attack and the fourth best defense in the league (after Nancy, Lille, and Nice - see why I’m hot and bothered over Hugo Lloris?).

Another record in Lyon’s favor is the fact that Lyon are undefeated in the Velodrome for 11 years now. Last year, Lyon sensationally walked away with a 4-1 victory. But then again, Marseille are hard to predict, and they are the only team who have beat Lyon at home this season (along with Rangers…grrr). So Marseille definitely have what it takes to make Lyon suffer.

It just depends on which Marseille will show up…

Lyon info:

Alain Perrin waited as long as he could before making a decision on Karim Benzema’s fitness, but it turns out that our star striker will be missing this match. He was injured two weeks ago against PSG when he hurt his knee, and though he’s well on the road to recovery, Lyon don’t want to take any risks. For me personally, I’m glad that Benzema will be given more time to heal fully. Relapse is so much worse, and Benzema knows it better than most, when last year he re-injured his hamstring after coming back from injury too soon.

In other news, Cris will be out because of a sore throat. Nothing to be worried about, and he could probably use the rest as well. He’s been playing nonstop since his return from injury.

Le group lyonnais: Coupet, Vercoutre - Reveillère, Clerc, Squillaci, Boumsong, Grosso - Källström, Toulalan, Bodmer, Crosas, Juninho - Mounier, Govou, Delgado, Ben Arfa, Keita, Fred

On the Marseille side of things, Mathieu Valbuena will miss this match. Thank god. He basically ass-raped Lyon’s left flank last November and was their biggest danger.

Expected lineup:

Coupet
Clerc - Squillaci - Boumsong - Grosso
Bodmer - Toulalan - Juninho
Keita - Fred - Govou

I believe it’s Francois Clerc’s turn at right back, though Perrin may opt for more defensive solidarity by using Anthony Reveillere. In central defense, Jean-Alain Boumsong will be pairing Sebastien Squillaci.

In midfield, I expect Mathieu Bodmer to get the nod because he’s been playing so well these last few weeks, but it’s been a while since Kim Kallstrom had a start, and he’s looked very good in practice. Juninho is a no brainer.

Up front, with Karim Benzema out, that leaves Fred to take care of things in the center. As much as I’d love to see Hatem Ben Arfa on the pitch, Kader Keita and Sidney Govou both scored last weekend, and Perrin seldom drops a player who is in form. But there is still a chance for Ben Arfa though. Perrin’s comments in his press conference seemed positive about him.

Viewing options:

This match will be on Setanta for those of you who have it. If not, you should be able to find tons of streams here. I won’t be able to post working links before the match, so if one of you guys find a good one, I’d appreciate it if you posted it in the comments.

Expected Results:

I can see this match ending in a draw, though if it does, it’ll probably be a high scoring one. Both teams are better at going forward than at defending, so 2-2 is my guess.

FYI, I’ll be gone all day Sunday, so not only will I miss the match, I can’t even make my usual in-game comments. By the time I’m near a computer, it’ll be like ten o’clock at night. Please keep things going so that when I finally do get online, I’ll feel like I didn’t miss too much.