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French Revelations: Can Olympique Lyonnais & Olympique de Marseille Qualify For Next Term’s Champions League?
Les Gones and les Phoceens both face uphill battles to qualify for Europe’s elite competition, but will they both make it? Goal.com’s Robin Bairner investigates...
Feb 4, 2010 10:00:00 AM
By Robin Bairner
When the Ligue 1 campaign began in August, there were three clear favourites to occupy the top three spots in Le Championnat come May 2010: Girondins de Bordeaux, Olympique Lyonnais and Olympique de Marseille. With less than four months of the season remaining, the picture is somewhat cloudier as only les Girondins would appear certain to achieve a podium finish and earn the reward of Champions League football that comes with it.
The big question is whether Lyon and Marseille can join Laurent Blanc’s men in mingling with Europe’s best in season 2010-11.
There is certainly a massive amount of pressure on the coaches of the clubs to achieve a top three finish, particularly OL general manager Claude Puel, who presided over the club’s first trophyless season in almost a decade last term and appears set fair to double les Gones’ barren run this time around. Almost €100 million later, that is not the kind of outcome that president Jean-Michel Aulas would have envisaged when Lisandro Lopez, Aly Cissokho, Michel Bastos and Bafetimbi Gomis made their high-profile summer moves to the club.
Rather than improving as a unit, Lyon appear to have fragmented somewhat. In the early weeks of the campaign OL were breathtaking, winning 10 of their first 12 competitive games and looking every inch the dominant force they once were in the middle part of the 2000s. Puel pointed to injuries coming into play from the mid-Autumn period, but that shouldn’t excuse the club’s woeful lack of performances over the next 15 matches, in which only four wins were claimed.
Having regrouped over the Christmas period, OL have already tasted victory five times since the turn of the year, with two defeats coming in cup competitions. Now fourth, Lyon are in a good position to strike out for the top three.
Marseille, meanwhile, are a club more used to disappointment than their Rhone Valley cousins. It has been close to 17 years since the Provence giants claimed any major silverware, an incredibly lamentable figure for a club of their magnitude. Though Didier Deschamps’ men are in the Coupe de la Ligue final, reaching the Champions League still remains the primary aim for les Phoceens.
Battles are currently raging on four fronts for OM – Ligue 1, Coupe de France, Coupe de la Ligue and Europa League – so Didier Deschamps will have to find an effective rotation system for his team over the course of the next two months.
Consistency has been les Phoceens’ enemy all season. Jose Anigo, Marseille’s sporting director, compared his side’s two faces to “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, which goes some distance to explaining why they are presently perched seventh in the table. Le Championnat is a typically close run affair and only four points separate OM from third-placed Lille – and les Phoceens have a game in hand.
On paper there can be little doubt that Deschamps’ men have the ability to bridge such a relatively small gap, but with their focus potentially distracted elsewhere it may prove a task harder in practice than in theory.
In addition, the form of other teams must be taken into account. Ligue 1 is a dog-eat-dog competition, with the sides ranked from second down to eighth only differentiated by eight points. Even Sochaux way down in 13th are only 10 points from the Champions League pace. Not that they’ll muster a charge; that honour will be left to the top eight.
If the form of Lyon and Marseille this season has been an unwelcome surprise for their fans, the over-performance of several other teams has made this an exciting season for the neutral. Lille’s swashbuckling, Latin style game has had pundits drooling since they finally hit their stride in the autumn, while Monaco and Auxerre have both enjoyed resurgent seasons and are well in contention for European football.
One side’s achievements eclipse all, however. Montpellier only won promotion to Ligue 1 on the final day of last season, beating Racing Strasbourg in what was effectively a winner takes all match at the Stade de la Mosson. Having overcome that hurdle and the loss of coach Rolland Courbis, la Paillade have soared to second behind Bordeaux.
Rene Girard, the former France Under-21 boss, has claimed the mantle of the club, blending a composition of bargain summer signings and the club’s own youth team products into one of l’Hexagone’s most potent mixes. And MHSC seem to be growing in strength, fuelled by the belief gained from a spectacular away win in Lyon just before Christmas and an equally impressive 2-0 success over Marseille just last week, a game that was marked by a stunning strike from 20-year-old Karim Ait Fana.
It would be a miracle if Montpellier were to reach Europe’s elite less than 12 months after embarking on their top flight adventure but with 16 matches of the campaign remaining they are a side showing no relent in their form. Girard has a unit that boasts spirit and togetherness that neither OL nor OM can boast, and that makes them a dangerous proposition.
Given the squads at the disposal of Puel and Deschamps, it’s almost unimaginable that France’s two biggest sides could both be squeezed out of the Champions League reckoning, but their Ligue 1 opponents have raised their game impressively this season. As things stand, it would be a shock if Lyon and Marseille were to both qualify for Europe’s elite next term, leaving the omitted club(s) in an extremely unhealthy situation.
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The big question is whether Lyon and Marseille can join Laurent Blanc’s men in mingling with Europe’s best in season 2010-11.
There is certainly a massive amount of pressure on the coaches of the clubs to achieve a top three finish, particularly OL general manager Claude Puel, who presided over the club’s first trophyless season in almost a decade last term and appears set fair to double les Gones’ barren run this time around. Almost €100 million later, that is not the kind of outcome that president Jean-Michel Aulas would have envisaged when Lisandro Lopez, Aly Cissokho, Michel Bastos and Bafetimbi Gomis made their high-profile summer moves to the club.
Rather than improving as a unit, Lyon appear to have fragmented somewhat. In the early weeks of the campaign OL were breathtaking, winning 10 of their first 12 competitive games and looking every inch the dominant force they once were in the middle part of the 2000s. Puel pointed to injuries coming into play from the mid-Autumn period, but that shouldn’t excuse the club’s woeful lack of performances over the next 15 matches, in which only four wins were claimed.
Having regrouped over the Christmas period, OL have already tasted victory five times since the turn of the year, with two defeats coming in cup competitions. Now fourth, Lyon are in a good position to strike out for the top three.
Marseille, meanwhile, are a club more used to disappointment than their Rhone Valley cousins. It has been close to 17 years since the Provence giants claimed any major silverware, an incredibly lamentable figure for a club of their magnitude. Though Didier Deschamps’ men are in the Coupe de la Ligue final, reaching the Champions League still remains the primary aim for les Phoceens.
Battles are currently raging on four fronts for OM – Ligue 1, Coupe de France, Coupe de la Ligue and Europa League – so Didier Deschamps will have to find an effective rotation system for his team over the course of the next two months.
Consistency has been les Phoceens’ enemy all season. Jose Anigo, Marseille’s sporting director, compared his side’s two faces to “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, which goes some distance to explaining why they are presently perched seventh in the table. Le Championnat is a typically close run affair and only four points separate OM from third-placed Lille – and les Phoceens have a game in hand.
On paper there can be little doubt that Deschamps’ men have the ability to bridge such a relatively small gap, but with their focus potentially distracted elsewhere it may prove a task harder in practice than in theory.
In addition, the form of other teams must be taken into account. Ligue 1 is a dog-eat-dog competition, with the sides ranked from second down to eighth only differentiated by eight points. Even Sochaux way down in 13th are only 10 points from the Champions League pace. Not that they’ll muster a charge; that honour will be left to the top eight.
If the form of Lyon and Marseille this season has been an unwelcome surprise for their fans, the over-performance of several other teams has made this an exciting season for the neutral. Lille’s swashbuckling, Latin style game has had pundits drooling since they finally hit their stride in the autumn, while Monaco and Auxerre have both enjoyed resurgent seasons and are well in contention for European football.
One side’s achievements eclipse all, however. Montpellier only won promotion to Ligue 1 on the final day of last season, beating Racing Strasbourg in what was effectively a winner takes all match at the Stade de la Mosson. Having overcome that hurdle and the loss of coach Rolland Courbis, la Paillade have soared to second behind Bordeaux.
Rene Girard, the former France Under-21 boss, has claimed the mantle of the club, blending a composition of bargain summer signings and the club’s own youth team products into one of l’Hexagone’s most potent mixes. And MHSC seem to be growing in strength, fuelled by the belief gained from a spectacular away win in Lyon just before Christmas and an equally impressive 2-0 success over Marseille just last week, a game that was marked by a stunning strike from 20-year-old Karim Ait Fana.
It would be a miracle if Montpellier were to reach Europe’s elite less than 12 months after embarking on their top flight adventure but with 16 matches of the campaign remaining they are a side showing no relent in their form. Girard has a unit that boasts spirit and togetherness that neither OL nor OM can boast, and that makes them a dangerous proposition.
Given the squads at the disposal of Puel and Deschamps, it’s almost unimaginable that France’s two biggest sides could both be squeezed out of the Champions League reckoning, but their Ligue 1 opponents have raised their game impressively this season. As things stand, it would be a shock if Lyon and Marseille were to both qualify for Europe’s elite next term, leaving the omitted club(s) in an extremely unhealthy situation.
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| Open an account with Sportingbet today and get up to £50 in free bets! |
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| Sign up with William Hill for a free bet up to £25 |
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