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Republic of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni has delayed finalising his team for Saturday's World Cup play-off first leg against France at Croke Park.

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Lyon coach Claude Puel has assured Liverpool they will be doing their all to beat Fiorentina, despite already securing qualifcation.
Liverpool's hopes of reaching the last 16 of the Champions League is out of their hands after Lisandro Lopez's dramatic late goal denied the English side all three points in France on Wednesday night. Click to continue reading...

Two weekends ago, Liverpool thought they had reached the turning point of what has been a frustrating campaign on all fronts. A 2-0 win over Manchester United seemed to silence the doubters and catapult them back into Premier League contention.
Now, though, after Saturday's 3-1 defeat at Fulham (and the League Cup loss to Arsenal), it's back to panic stations for Rafael Benitez and his men as they look to resurrect their Champions League campaign. Click to continue reading...

Lyon insist they will not be lulled into a false sense of security ahead of their crucial Champions League clash with Liverpool.
The English giants are staring at a premature exit after Lyon's 2-1 victory at Anfield a fortnight ago left them with two defeats from three in Group E.
Rafa Benitez's men were reduced to nine as they suffered a 3-1 defeat at Fulham on Saturday - their fifth loss in 11 Premier League games - and have a host of injury problems for the trip to France. Click to continue reading...

Just some random odds and ends for you to read as you bide your time waiting for Lyon's Champions League clash with Liverpool.

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< Sid's Serious Captain-y Face.

If you're wondering why the captain's armband showed up on Cris last Saturday, despite Sidney Govou also being on the pitch, it's because our dear (former?

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There's an unstoppable groin-pocalypse going on at Lyon right now and no one is immune to its devastation. From Reuters:

Olympique Lyon have been hit by a series of groin injuries with keeper Hugo Lloris, defenders Jean-Alain Boumsong, Aly Cissokho, Mathieu Bodmer, Cleber Anderson, Cris, midfielders Cesar Delgado, Jeremy Toulalan, Kim Kallstrom and striker Lisandro Lopez all suffering from the same problem before their trip to arch-rivals St Etienne on Saturday.

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French Ligue 1 have become one of the strongest leagues in Europe during the last few years and it is constantly justifying its reputation. Round 10 this season was supposed to bring us the biggest derby of French football but the OM-PSG derby was postponed because two PSG players had contracted the swine flu.

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Goals: Nice (Bagayoko 17, Cissokho o.g. 40, Hellebuyck 69, Remy 74), Lyon (Ederson 84).
Warnings: Nice (Coulibaly 5), Lyon (Cissokho 21, Gonalons 53, Reveillere 77)

The entire match condensed into a single photo.

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Pardon the super cheesy title, but after reading Miralem Pjanic's super inspiring interview this morning, I felt...well, super. Lyon are in first place in their CL group, Liverpool are in the unwelcome position of being in third, and both teams are coming off of weekend losses in their domestic leagues.

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French Ligue 1 returns into action after the international break and Olympique Lyon are leading the title race at the moment. Bordeaux and surprise package Montpellier are just behind the leaders, while Marseille and PSG are slowly falling behind. Monaco and Lorient are also exceeding expectations at the moment, while Toulouse, Nice and Lille are not doing as well as last season.

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With World Cup qualifiers about to take place, there isn't too much happening at club level. But there are a few articles and updates that caught my eye.

The biggest news is the medical update on Bafetimbi Gomis. Two days ago at Guingamp, Gomis collapsed during practice with the France squad.

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Lyon will seek to add to their 1-0 win at Fiorentina when they head to Hungary to play last year's champions, Debrecen.

Lyon will be missing key players Lisandro Lopez and Michel Bastos but despite this Lyon manager Claude Puel believes his team is strong even without those players.

"The squad has a real strength and team spirit.

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France's Ligue 1 is in full effect and its hottest team is Olympique Lyonnais. Brazilian playmaker Michel Bastos scored the game winner in Lyon's 1-0 home win against Lorient. Claude Puel's team have won 4 straight matches to move into 2nd place behind Bordeaux on goal differential. Lyon have been doing it with defense allowing only 1 goal during their winning streak. Click to continue reading...

Fue el gran ganador de los partidos de ida de la repesca, y su lugar en la zona de grupos está casi asegurado. Ganó, gustó y goleó ante su público en el debut europeo tras un dubitativo comienzo en la Ligue 1. Pero el amplio resultado queda un poco relegado ante el satisfactorio rendimiento del equipo de Claude Puel, quien comienza a engranar las piezas de un nuevo Lyon, más inexperto pero más Click to continue reading...

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.

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With Lyon finally knocked off their lofty perch by Laurent Blanc's fantastically well drilled Bordeaux side last season, there is a feeling that this season's Ligue Un title race might just be the most open in years.

With Claude Puel's side looking to regain the crown they had held in a vice-like grip for seven seasons in a row, Blanc's men will have their work cut out to retain their title, and with traditional powerhouses Marseille & Paris Saint-Germain looking to continue the excellent progress made last season under new coaches Didier Deschamps & Antoine Kombouaré respectively, not to mention the impressive underdogs of Lille & Toulouse lurking, French football has lot going for it at the moment.

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Lyon are continuing their spending spree by shelling out €13m for St. Etienne's Bafetimbi Gomis (plus another €2m in incentives). His cool name and awesome hair will be further augmenting Lyon's ever expanding strikeforce. I'll have a post featuring relevant information and stats about him once he has his press conference, but for now, let's talk about how Lyon's mercato is going.

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Lyon Can Finally Fly Straight Again: OL's New Winger Swoops into Town, Hopefully to Take Us to New Heights.
No, it's not a Ferrari nor Beluga caviar, it's a Brazilian winger. Like and injured bird, OL's left wing- along with a slew of other issues- hindered it's abilitiy to fly as strong as it was capable of, but now it's finally healed, stronger than ever, and ready for lift-off.

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Hotting up.

IN:

Lisandro Lopez: JMA himself was supposed to be in Portugal today to personaly finalize the deal for Lisandro, but management dropped a bomb today on Porto! In L'Equipe, Bernard Lacombe announced that management had called-off the trip to Portugal today, as well as divulging that negotiations for Toulouse striker Andre Pierre Gignac were underway(see more below).

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Lyon have been the dominant force in France for seven long years but that domination came to an end last season when Bordeaux lifted Ligue 1 title. This is now a turning point for the club and they need to show everyone how serious they are. Nevertheless, the first signs are not very positive since Claude Puel's team stayed without two key players and they will definitely have problems finding the right replacements.

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During yesterday's unveiling of Kaka, Real Madrid sporting director, Jorge Valdano, was questioned about the possibility of the Madrid club splurging for another big name this summer, after being linked with Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema, amongst others.

"We do not discard the possibility that in the next few hours, something could happen," Valdano stated to a packed press room.

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by GIANFRANCO PANIZO

Karim Benzema is free to go.

Okay, well not "free" but the Lyon striker has been given the green light to join any of the big clubs reportedly interested in his services.

Lyon coach Claude Puel told the team's website that if Benzema wishes to leave then he will be allowed to do so as long one of the interested clubs meets the transfer fee, reportedly around £34 million ($56.

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Claude Puel has dropped his biggest hint yet that Lyon are planning for life after star striker Karim Benzema. The 21-year-old has emerged as a principal target for Europe's powerhouses and only last week his agent, Karim Djaziri, revealed Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson had enquired about the in-demand France . Click to continue reading...

It's official: Tuesday Juninho,alongside JMA, Bernarde Lacombe and Claude Puel, anounced his intention to leave OL after eight seasons. Although it would have been nice to send-off Lyon's son with an eigth Le Championnat trophy, but it wasn't to be. Regardless, OL's captain made sure that he would not leave his squad without-as he has done so many times in the past- leading them into victory.

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Five veteren players who might be on the way out this summer.

Lyon reached a turning point in this season in that there was an influx of youth during their summer mercato which, coupled with their aging core, signaled that the rebuilding of the squad was underway; whether intentional or not, something had to give.

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Lyon have been a dominant force in French football during the last decade and seven consecutive league titles are the perfect proof. Even though they gained worthy competitors in Marseille, Bordeaux and PSG this season, Les Gones seemed to be heading for yet another league title.

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Olympique Lyon midfielder Fabio Santos did.
Now he's been suspended for 10 days by the club. Dang... that's kinda harsh.
Listen to coach Claude Puel:

"Fabio Santos will not be at our training camp (in Evian) this week," Puel told a news conference ahead of Lyon's home game against Nantes next Tuesday.

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Bordeaux 1 - 0 Lyon.

No Cavegol, no problem. French international and ex-Lyon player Alou Diarra's 43′rd minute poke gave Les Girondins a deserved win against a rather lackluster Lyon side; adding misery to manager Claude Puel's future and potentially kissed away Lyon's title hopes.

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"I'm an honest man and you've got to say that Marseille and Bordeaux have worked well these past two seasons. This year maybe they deserve to go all the way..."

Those truly sincere words were uttered by Lyon's Juninho following the team's 2-2 draw last weekend which saw the seven consecutive domestic champions lose top spot since week 4 of the Ligue 1.

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Lyon still have a one point lead (thanks, Marseille!), no new injuries have befallen the squad, and the sun is still shining.

So this is an OPTIMISM post. As opposed to my last post, which was all about the pessimism.

Lyon are going through a slump right now, but they'll make it through.

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American defender Carlos Bocanegra and his Rennes teammates face perhaps their stiffest test of the year as they head into Stade Gerland tonight to take on league leaders Olympique Lyon.
Fresh off nearly toppling the mighty Barcelona on Wednesday night in the Champions League (a match which ended 1-1), Lyon coach Claude Puel is looking to carry the same attacking spirit into tonight's match. Click to continue reading...

Break out the party hats and start celebrating!

Fred, who is currently suntanning in Brazil, has decided never to return to Lyon. He's terminated his contract and is now free to sign with Fluminense. His decision has been made official by Lyon. This certainly can't be a surprise to anyone - he hasn't been selected for the first team since December and has been limited to one or two appearances on Lyon's CFA team (he apparently cleared out his locker several weeks back).

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I plan to post a much longer entry tomorrow about Lyon's winter transfer season (or lack thereof), but for now, here are some other things that I wanted to mention that don't deserve their own post.

First off, it's INTERNATIONAL TIME!!! That's good news and bad.

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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.

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First things first, the last few weeks have been very hectic in my "real life" because I've fallen behind in my research, and as a doctoral student, my adviser is not happy with me, which is why I've had to take a vacation from the soccer blogosphere. So you can imagine my disappointment that despite missing two games and nearly two weeks into the January transfer window, nothing remotely interesting has happened at Lyon.

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