Time to Get Serious: Lyon vs. Fiorentina

Time really flies, huh? It feels like only yesterday when Lyon had once again shot themselves in the foot against Manchester United. And remember those back to back 3-0 defeats, one to Barcelona (almost understandable) and the other to Rangers (practically inconceivable)? I guess you could say that last year’s Champions League campaign has more bad memories than good ones. The seasons before were hardly better.

But tomorrow, Lyon have the chance to redeem themselves. All bets are off, and if Lyon play their cards right, perhaps this is the year that we break our quarterfinals curse.

Wednesday, September 18, 2008
Stade de Gerland, Lyon
2:45 PM ET (20:45 CET, 19:45 GMT)

Match Background:

I don’t know about you guys, but it seems like being a top seed didn’t do much for Lyon’s chances because they ended up getting three other very tough teams. None of Bayern, Fiorentina, and Steaua could be called easy or simple by any stretch in meaning. All the teams are evenly matched (well not necessarily Steaua, but they are capable of causing a lot of damage), so wins will be hard to come by in this group.

But this is also a blessing in disguise. Since it’s unlikely that a single team will dominate this group, everyone will be taking points from each other, and every goal and clean sheet will count. So Lyon will probably still be in a position to qualify on the last day, and thankfully, that’s a home game (against Bayern, but still…). We’re also lucky in that our double header is against Steaua, kind of like Stuttgart last year. Happy coincidences, but Lyon need all the help they can get.

Fiorentina will be an interesting team to play against. They’ve just started their season, with only two games played (one draw, one loss, two goals scored, three conceded), and with one point, they are in fifteenth place. That is a slight advantage to Lyon because Fiorentina are still in the nascent stages of their season and might be off balance from their rocky start. Of course, they have so many talented players that their slightly diminished level of physical fitness may not even have an adverse effect on them.

So who are their danger men? Well, Adrian Mutu, goalscorer extraordinaire (and possible bankruptcy candidate) is the name on everyone’s lips these days. He’s just the sort of tricky player that will give Lyon’s beleaguered back four many problems. There is also Alberto Gilardino, who despite being rejected by AC Milan, is still an awfully good player when he’s in the mood. And of course, there is Sebastien Frey, who doesn’t get much love inside of France, but is still one of the best French goalkeepers of his generation. As someone who tries to watch as little Serie A as possible, I can’t say much more about the other players except that they love to play smart, technical football, and even if they aren’t as experienced on the biggest stages, they’ll be anything but timid.

Gilardino was once a Lyon target.

As for their coach, I’m actually a fan of Cesare Prandelli. He’s one of the rising young stars in the coaching world, and I expect to see him at a bigger team in the next couple of years (though he’s very loyal to Fiorentina, so who knows). If Fiorentina has a heart to their team, he would be it. He’s been through a lot with his club and his players, so he’ll be eager to have a good debut in the Champions League.

On the Lyon side of things, the club has played five games (six if you count to Trophee des Champions), with four wins and one draw, nine goals scored and only two allowed. With 13 points, they are at the top of the Ligue 1 table, two points ahead of Marseille. However, all nine goals came from three goalscorers, and seven of those goals were from some sort of set piece. So Lyon are still not comfortable in the attack, and their defensive troubles have yet to be sorted.

With everything up in the air, the game could go either way, and both teams will be gunning for all three points.

Player News:

Fiorentina went down to Napoli 2-1 last Sunday, but don’t let the loss deceive you – Fiorentina were dangerous throughout the match and had 18 shots on goal. They didn’t rest any key players (though Mutu was taken off near the end of the match), and they had a day less rest than Lyon. Also, one piece of good news, if you can call it that, is that one of Fiorentina’s defenders, Alessandro Gamberini, will be out due to injury – in fact, he got injured in the same international match that took out Fabio Grosso.

Le groupe de la Fiorentina: Frey, Avramov, Storari – Dainelli, Kroldrup, Vargas, Zauri – Almiron, Donadel, Gobbi, Jorgensen, Kuzmanovic, Felipe Melo, Montolivo, Santana – Gilardino, Jovetic, Mutu, Osvaldo, Pazzini

Compared to their opponents, Lyon are missing a lot more players due to injuries. Francois Clerc is out long term due to knee ligament damage, Fabio Grosso is nursing two broken ribs, Fabio Santos is still healing from a broken cheekbone, and Kader Keita’s arm is still not 100%. There was a slight scare earlier this morning when John Mensah was diagnosed with a sore throat, but since then, he’s been cleared to play.

Jeremy Toulalan, Sidney Govou, and Karim Benzema didn’t start over the weekend, though Govou and Benzema came on in the second half against Nice.

Le groupe lyonnais: Lloris, Vercoutre – Réveillère, Gassama, Boumsong, Cris, Kolodziejziak, Mensah, Bodmer – Juninho, Källström, Makoun, Toulalan – Pjanic, Ederson, Piquionne, Benzema, Govou, Mounier, Fred

Unsurprisingly, Cesar Delgado has not been included in the group – he’s the only senior player to be dropped thusly, the rest are all youth players. Ouch. Good news is that Anthony Mounier is in the group. This must be really exciting for him since last year, he was almost always with the reserves.

Tactics:

I’d bet my next week’s paycheck Puel will put out a 4-3-3. Lyon just can’t escape that formation, and frankly, if that’s what the players feel comfortable with, and as long as they are winning games with it, I really can’t complain. Having two strikers hasn’t done much for Lyon, though that is probably what Fiorentina will be utilizing.

Lloris
Reveillere – Cris – Bodmer – Mensah
Toulalan – Makoun
Govou – Juninho – Ederson
Benzema

The above lineup is what I think Lyon’s “standard” starting XI is. Hugo Lloris is in goal, but this is his first ever European match, so let’s hope that his nerves don’t get to him. The backline is cringe worthy, but it’s the best we have at the moment. Anthony Reveillere is our only healthy, experienced fullback, so no choice there. Cris hasn’t been at his best at all, but perhaps a big game is what he needs to wake up from his funk. Mathieu Bodmer has been doing excellent as a defender – in fact, he’s been our best CB so far this season. As for left back, John Mensah debuted last weekend in that position, and though I didn’t watch the game, from comments, he apparently did well. Not outstanding, but not too shabby either. If for some reason he can’t play tomorrow, Puel will probably use Kim Kallstrom or Jean-Alain Boumsong in that position instead.

We need our police officer back ASAP.

In midfield, we will be seeing the return of the two DMs, which is good because Lyon could use that extra protection. Now that Jeremy Toulalan and Jean II Makoun are used to playing together, they will be causing Fiorentina’s midfield a lot of problems. I also expect Juninho to start, especially in light of his contributions in the last couple of games. But he played the entire ninety minutes against Nice last Sunday, so I’m not sure about his fitness. I’ll have my fingers crossed for him.

Up front, Karim Benzema is sure to start. As Lyon’s most dangerous player, he’ll probably be heavily marked, but he’s tricky enough to find himself some place tomorrow. Sidney Govou has also been in really great form these past couple of weeks, so hopefully his streak will continue. As for Ederson, though he’s yet to score a goal for Lyon, he’s been looking really good these past couple of weeks, and along with Lloris, he’s Lyon’s other newbie in the Champions League, so he’ll be eager to impress.

Viewing Options:

Wow, so Lyon vs. Fiorentina won’t be broadcast ANYWHERE in the United States. ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN 360, TSN, Setanta, Setanta Broadband…It’s just ridiculous, but that’s what happens when your opponent isn’t an English team. You can try to find streams here, or you can pay $8 for a reliable stream (English or Spanish) from UEFA.com. I’ll probably find myself going with the latter because I’ll be too nervous to deal with sopcast and TVants.

Expected Results:

It’s rather scary to guess because the game can so easily go either way. While Lyon have a lot more experience, both as a team and as individual players, Fiorentina are an ambitious club, and everyone has to start somewhere. But I’m reassured from the fact that Claude Puel is our coach. The last two years, when he was with Lille and when Lyon had a weaker squad, he believed – from the bottom of his heart – that Lyon could succeed in the competition. Now that he’s in charge, I hope he instills that same hope in the heart of the players. Granted, Lyon have had the worst luck when it comes to Italian teams, but it’s time that changes, don’t you think?

If I had to guess something, I’ll go with 2-1. I don’t think Lyon can maintain a clean sheet, but we have home court advantage, and those Roma and Rangers games notwithstanding, the Stade de Gerland really is a fortress.

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Category: Champions League, Player News and Rumors, Team News and Rumors