When Lyon, the “best team in the country”, hosts OM, the “most popular team in the country”, it’s a huge clash. But more than an exercise in justifying these monikers, this match will demonstrate the respective sides’ capacity to bounce back from adversity. Kick off at 21:00.

LYON-OM
Round 28 of L1 11/03 at 21:00 - Stade Gerland Referee: M. Kalt Broadcast live on Canal+

An underdog OM at Gerland

“Never give up”. President, manager, captain, everyone has been using this phrase since the defeat at Lens. Now the words simply need to be carried out. “The best response is on the field,” insisted Lorik Cana, for whom reaching third place is “difficult, but not impossible”.
Looking for its first league win since January 24, (OM 3-1 Auxerre), OM has a strong desire to lift its head again. Which would surely be much easier in a stadium other than Gerland. But that doesn’t matter; one can surely say that bouncing back at the home of the best team in the country will have that much more impact.
In fact, OM will once again have underdog status, which sits well with them. “Everyone sees us losing on Sunday,” claims Toifilou Maoulida. “But we’re not scared. Lyon can win matches even when they are at 80% of their potential. So it’s up to us to be at our maximum. We have the motivation and the capacity to do something good. It’ll be like going into combat.”
OM will have in the forefront of their minds their victory from January 31, when goals from Pagis and Niang KO’d OL. “That means that we can do ti… and despite the pessimism we can see on your faces, I believe we can get a result in Lyon,” concluded Albert Emon in front of the press on Friday.

Which OL?

Knocked out of the Champions League in the last 16 this week, the Lyonnais created a huge surprise, at their own expense. They are now left with only the league and the Coupe de la Ligue final, their least important goal for the season, to deal with. So it’s appropriate to wonder what state of mind Gérard Houllier's men will approach the coming games in light of the fact that they had been aiming to go all the way in the Champions League.
Will they play to the best of their ability? Or take it as a point of honour to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary? And further to that, does the fact that they are hosting OM rather than less high-profile team change the stakes? Yes, thinks Albert Emon.
“For them also this is a chance to play OM and have a great match. The Lyon fans await OM with firm feet and the players will want to gobble OM up. For them it’s almost another Champions League match, and the same goes for us.”
On the other hand, no-one has forgotten that after OL was eliminated from the champions League by AC Milan last year, OM travelled to Gerland and won in the Coupe de France. Could this happen again on Sunday?

 

 

The OM squad Keepers: Carrasso, Hamel Defenders: Beye, Zubar, Cantareil, Taiwo, Civelli, Cesar Midfielders: Cana, Nasri, Olembe, M'Bami, Valbuena Attackers: Cissé, Maoulida, Pagis, Niang, Arrache

The OL squad Keepers: Coupet, Vercoutre Defenders: Réveillère, Cris, Abidal, Clerc, Müller, Squillaci Midfielders: Toulalan, Juninho, Källström, Tiago, Diarra Attackers: Malouda, Fred, Benzema, Baros, Govou, Wiltord