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Don't hold-it against me. After all, it's Real Madrid!
First Juni, then Michael Jackson, now this!!! This is honestly too much too much loss for a
human being to be subjected to in the span of a couple of months. In case you've been living on the
moon these last few days, Karim Benzema has left Lyon!
This may not be a familiar sight anymore
As Juninho rose, Lyon did too. The Brazilian is now at the twilight of his career and the sun
may also be setting on Lyon's era of dominance. Their loss to Valenciennes gives Marseille its best
chance at a title since 1992.
Lyon is a remarkable record in the annals of French football.
Overshadowed by Real Madrid's new "Galacticos" circa 2001 and Man City aka money city's lavish
spending spree a la Chelsea 2004, perennial French heavyweights Lyon - under the cover of the
fanfare surrounding Barcelona's trade by barter plus 40m Euros swap deal for Ibrahimovich and the
transfer saga starring Frank Ribery nom de plume "World's most wanted player" – shelled out an
astonishing 70m Euros on new players this summer in an attempt to strengthen and regain its footing
domestically, and to a lesser extent, reassert its "tag" as the Champions league's darkest
horse.
Sort of, anyway.
Alain Perrin took over management of St. Etienne last November, after the last
derby that took place in August. Today will be bittersweet for him because he won more trophies
than any other OL manager (four), led the squad to their first ever domestic double, and despite a
horrible injury crisis, was a hairsbreadth away from kicking Manchester United out of the Champions
League.
Saint Etienne started this season just like they ended the last one, with poor
performances and they quickly found themselves in the relegation zone. Seeing that the team have
taken the wrong path, the club management decided to act and brought a couple of very good players
in the dying moments of the transfer window, but it was Argentine striker Gonzalo
Bergessio who stole the spotlight in the last few weeks and he certainly looks like the
man that can turn things around for Les Verts (The Greens).
"I am not the coach but it's true that with all those changes we sometimes find it difficult
to get our bearings... It would be a catastrophe of the prospect of Lyon not winning an eighth
consecutive title."
Those words, by Lyon ace Karim Benzema, adequately describe the club's state of mind.
Autor: Germán González.
Matthew Taylor es un jugador Inglés de 27 años, que actualmente juega en el Bolton Wanderers de
la Premier League Inglesa; puede jugar tanto de lateral defensivo por izquierda, como de volante de
salida por izquierda. Dueño de una espectacular pegada con su pierna hábil que es la izquierda,
Taylor dio sus primeros pasos en el futbol, en un equipo llamado Luton Town, que en ese entonces
pertenecía a la llamada "league two ", que vendría siendo como la cuarta división de Inglaterra.
Swiss holding midfielder Gelson Fernandes has left Manchester City for Saint Etienne for an
undisclosed fee after slipping down the Eastlands' pecking order due to the arrivals of Vincent
Kompany and Nigel de Jong.
With the World Cup approaching, Fernandes will have been eager to drive for a regular starting
position for Switzerland by impressing at club level and the prospects of achieving this at the
City of Manchester Stadium were diminishing ever since Mark Hughes replaced Sven Goran Eriksson as
manager.
Only a couple of days after I posted this, the official site confirmed the departure of Gelson
Fernandes to St. Ettiene today:
Manchester City can confirm that Gelson Fernandes has joined French side St Etienne for
an undisclosed fee.
The Swiss midfielder moved to City from FC Sion in July 2007, and made his debut in the Carling
Cup win over Bristol City a month later.
OCTOBER 31, 2009
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, St. Etienne
4PM ET (21:00 CET, 20:00 GMT)
Saturday, OL make their descent into Le Chaudron and you can believe it will be hot- aka
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard to kick-off the only derby that really matters.
