AS Lyon Duchère vs. Olympique Lyonnais

Coupe de France, Round of 64

Coupe de France greets us on the other side of the winter break, and OL travels to, well, Lyon. The fourth division team of Lyon Duchère, the youth club of Eric Abidal, hosts Olympique Lyonnais, the big boys this time.

As City wheel and deal in another transfer window, Samir Nasri falls further down the pecking order. And he just joined. Think how early-adopter Wayne Bridge feels.

It's hard to watch several leagues simultaneously, which somewhat tempers the distaste for the phenomenon of sugardaddied Manchester City and makes the team an intriguing entity to behold.

There are loads of snippets of Arsenal transfer news about this morning, but most of them seem to be total speculation without any quotes whatsoever, but it is my duty to pass them on to interested Arsenal fans. The first one has Arsenal and just about every other top Premier League club interested in signing [.

Yoann Gourcuff has been linked with a move to Arsenal for a long, long time.
Since the summer this 'rumour' has grown bigger than Gervinho's forehead and won't go away despite Arsene Wenger denying it will happen.
Wenger's reason for not bringing in Gourcuff is that Jack Wilshere and Abou Diaby will be back from injury soon and there will be a lot of players in the midfield area.

How does one go from a miracle to synthetic grass? This sums up the problem faced by the Lyon squad just a few days after an heroic and historical game that took everyone by surprise.

For that's the big question mark tonight : in what condition will the heroes of Zagreb be in Lorient : back down to earth (or rather to the synthetic pitch with artificial grass of le Moustoir stadium), or still floating somewhere with their minds still in Zagreb, with a heavy hangover after days of partying night and day?

Arsenal's former star Robert Pires has offered the Lyon's midfielder Yoann Gourcuff a way out of the situation he's currently in at the French giants, saying that Arsenal is the best escape route for him. According to Pires, the best way for Gourcuff to come back into the form which made him highly-coveted a few [.

Image: jutarnji.hr.

We love taking nervous boys under our (pterodactyl-like) wings and er... offering consolation. This is exactly what we were planning when we saw this photo of Yoann Gourcuff arriving in Croatia for Lyon's crunch Champions League tie vs. Dinamo Zagreb. With the benefit of hindsight, we needn't have bothered.

So the January transfer madness is almost upon us and tonight we are told by a Spanish paper that Arsenal have contacted AC Milan and offered 30M Euros for the incredibly decent Alexandre Pato if this happened, it would easily be the greatest transfer in the Wenger era.

The duck, as Pato is affectionately known as in Brazil, is one hell of a talented striker and just the kind of speedy, clinical type we have needed at the club since Henry left.

Arsene Wenger has been an admirer of the French international midfielder Yoann Gourcuff for many years, since he was a youth player at Rennes in fact, but currently the 25 year-old is languishing on the bench at Lyon and the French press are reporting that Arsenal have arranged a deal with the French giants to [.

Arsene Wenger has been an admirer of the French international midfielder Yoann Gourcuff for many years, since he was a youth player at Rennes in fact, but currently the 25 year-old is languishing on the bench at Lyon and the French press are reporting that Arsenal have arranged a deal with the French giants to [.

Bad luck. Just about to start the biggest game of this fall, and possibly of this season, Olympique Lyonnais is in disarray. After a promising start to the season, both in the game and in the mindset, OL is so far in a series of three defeats, regardless of the competition. Rémi Garde's men are ineffective upfront and fragile behind.

Nasri has pulled out the squad injured (Malouda, Remy, and Cabaye are also injury doubts), but we all know that Lyon have an attacking midfielder who can do the job just as well, or better, on his day: our very own Christian Gourcuff. But Gourcuff is left to watch from home as his club teammate Maxime Gonalons has been called up.

Lyon Mascot (creepy voice) : "It's my job to hug everyone after the game, especially you, Yoann." Gourcuff : "Yea? It's cool man - let's just shake hands.." (via Reuters)

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FELIZ MARTES!! The Champions League finally returns today and you'd better believe that Roberto Mancini loves David Silva as much as the Valencianos still do! There's nothing quite like some hair affection at a press conference and naturally, they picked David to face the Spanish media ahead of the City-Villarreal clash tonight.

The Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admitted that he was interested in buying the Lyon playmaker Yohann Gourcuff in the summer, reportedly as a straight replacement for Cesc Fabregas, but he said that he withdrew his interest when he was informed about the French international's injury. But today, the Lyon boss Jean-Michel Aulas has revealed that [.

Arsenal's manager Arsene Wenger admitted he was interested in the star midfielder Yoann Gourcuff in the summer, but the transfer to the Emirates didn't go through due to Gourcuff's knee injury. "I was interested. Then I learned of his medical condition." said Wenger. Wenger is expected to go for the player again in January if [.

Arsenal's manager Arsene Wenger admitted he was interested in the star midfielder Yoann Gourcuff in the summer, but the transfer to the Emirates didn't go through due to Gourcuff's knee injury. "I was interested. Then I learned of his medical condition." said Wenger. Wenger is expected to go for the player again in January if [.

The 'Sex Face'. With additional looming? It's a strong start from Bafe. Image: BERTRAND GUAY/AFP/Getty Images.

Aside from a perfunctory nod in the Weekend Results and the occasional photo of Yoann Gourcuff, Ligue 1 tends to remain somewhat 'off-piste' for us. But that doesn't mean we're not constantly monitoring the newswires (Editor's note: yes it does) for images of players exhibiting what we like to call 'The Five Tests of Titillation': namely those poses that we can wilfully misinterpret as an effort by a player to appear on these pages.

Ladies and gentlemen, beware today's match is no ordinary game. It's THE match. The game between an ex-outsider turned new rich and an ex-king turned poor, the highly symbolic encounter between the two teams who, after 8 matchdays, are the most often tipped for the title.

Coinciding trajectories
PSG -or QSG (Qatar Saint Germain)- had shown their ambitions with a glittering and flashy recruitment this summer, to the point of becoming the logical favorite for the French championship.

Venue : Stade Michel d'Ornan
Sep 21, 2011, 1900 CET.

Of highs and spectacular lows highs!

Stade de Gerland turned into a graveyard for Olympique Marseille this Sunday. The memorable 2-0 loss to OL has brought upon OM a 10 point deficit from 2012-13 Champions League spots in just 6 games!

Dijon Mustard is a tricky seasoning. You put the the right dose and it enhances the taste; but if you put a little too much it ruins the dish. And burns your tongue.
So OL better watch out today as they resume the championship following an international break.

Some interesting news out there today, so let's get right into it. Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has revealed that Arsenal made a last day inquiry for Yoann Gourcuff, but the French club rejected the proposed ...

Stade Brestois 29 Olympique Lyonnais Week 3

It hasn't been all sunshine and lollypops for Lyon coach Remi Garde's kick-off to the season, he still hopes to take the team out of the curse of the conceded goal. Is it just a fluke or do they really need this wake-up call?

The Title and nothing less!

With action packed couple of weeks to come, Lyon warm up for the Champions League qualifier against Rubin Kazan by attempting to show the Ligue 1 returnees Ajaccio who's boss. Yes, 5 matches to play from the 13th till 27th of August, two of which shall certainly decide the course of the team for the year.

Image: PacificCoastNews.com/Zimbio.

Having cheerily assured the footballing world last week that we're happy to accept swimming garmentage in any format, we're rather chastened to learn that fate has already taken exception to our over-confidence.

It's not that there is anything inherently wrong with the white .

Meet monsieur Gourcuff, who'll (presumably) be your Lyon tour guide? / via 'stillinwonderland' on Bellazon

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I've just watched a couple Lille matches the Coupe de France (French Cup) final victory over Paris Saint-Germain on the weekend and the almost-league-title-clinching victory tonight over Sochaux.

The secret to Lille's success appears to be good players. A fair few of them are French most notably their rock at the back, and France's first-choice right-sided central defender, Adil Rami (who's transferring to Valencia at the end of the season).

Liverpool are believed to be plotting a £10m swoop for Olympique Lyon midfielder Miralem Pjanic.
The 21-year-old has drifted in and out of the team this season, with coach Claude Puel often preferring Yoann Gourcuff ahead of the Bosnia international.
Pjanic, a creative midfielder with an eye for goal, has only started twelve league games this term and is reportedly growing disillusioned with life at Stade de Gerland.

Asamoah Gyan & Derek Boeteng of Ghana share a tender moment during a friendly (ish) 1-1 draw with England at Wembley. Image: Reuters/Daylife

If our confusion over which games were friendlies and which meaningful at the weekend was bad, imagine our horror when confronted with last night's maddening fixture schedule.

If this friendly were held before a qualifier, it would be more interesting. Instead, it's coming right after a qualifier, and over two months before the next one, and in the midst of the final stages of the domestic seasons. The timing of the match conspires to make it insignificant.

Furthermore, even the recent qualifier against Luxembourg was a bit of a damp squib, a soggy firecracker.

That's a 4th consecutive 2-0 victory for France in Euro 2012 qualifying. They started like this:

Benzema
Malouda Nasri(c) Ribery
M'Vila Gourcuff
Evra Mexes Rami Sagna
Lloris

Some of the other players who we might have seen instead of Ribery and Evra, who missed out either through injury or the manager's preference, include Valbuena, Menez, Alou Diarra, Clichy, Diaby, Hoarau, and Abidal.

Samir Nasri better be more careful or he'll end up with a strained forehead. Image: Getty Images/Daylife.

Unlike England, the French NT are surprisingly free from controversy and poor clothing decisions at the moment. And, if these pictures from their training session at Clairefontaine yesterday are to be believed, they are approaching their Euro 2012 qualifier against Luxembourg on Saturday with a killer combo of humour and cuteness a policy we heartily endorse.

Earlier today, Laurent Blanc released his squad to face Luxembourg on March 25th and Croatia on the 29th. Here is the squad:

Goalkeepers: Lloris, Mandanda, Carrasso

Defenders: Clichy, Evra, Koscielny, Mexes, Rami, Reveillere, Sagna, Sakho

Midfielders: Diaby, A.

Where the Lionceaux (the cubs) meet Lyon... This saturday, the FC Sochaux-Montbéliard, unbeaten in three matches, hosts the Olympique Lyonnais, currently fourth before this 27th day of Ligue 1. The Lyonnais have the opportunity to overtake Marseille and reach the third step of the podium, getting closer (at 1 point distance) to the leader, Lille, until they play on sunday, and to Rennes who lost to Marseille (2-0).

LYON, France — Striker Bafetimbi Gomis scored a late equalizer Tuesday as Lyon drew 1-1 with Real Madrid in the first leg of their last-16 meeting in the Champions League, denying the Spanish team its first win against the former French champions. Brazilian defender Cris headed on a free kick and Gomis clipped the ball [.

Por Halftown
Gourcuff padre
Antiguo centrocampista del estilo tiqui-taquero que estilaban hace treinta años los Tigana, Platini y compañía, Christian Gourcuff decidió pronto que lo suyo era el banquillo.
Profesor de matemáticas, papá Gourcuff fue de los primeros en utilizar los ordenadores para programar sus entrenamientos.

PARIS, France — Lyon gave themselves the perfect morale boost for next Tuesday's Champions League home clash with Real Madrid on Friday as they eased to a 4-0 victory over Nancy. However, while goals from Yoann Gourcuff, Jeremy Pied, Miralem Pjanic and the outstanding Jimmy Briand saw them move into provisional second in the league [.

Let's be honest, while I sometimes imagine how fun it could be to be a sport journalist when I watch Rennes' coach Antonetti or PSG's Kombouaré giving a press conference, I never get carried away too long as I suddenly realise that would also mean attending Claude Puel's press conferences. And then for some reason my dream ends suddenly.

The starting 11 for tonight's match against Brazil:

Benzema

Malouda Gourcuff Menez

M'Vila A.Diarra

Abidal Mexes Rami Sagna

Lloris

Robinho has a word or two to say to the press

Brazil's first outing of the 2011 sees them lock horns with France in an international friendly later this evening. Coach Mano Menezes hands Bayer Leverkusen midfielder, Renato Augusto, his first cap. Inter Milan keeper, Julio César, makes his first appearance since Brazil went out of the South Africa World Cup to the Netherlands.