ArseWeb presents: Arsenal vs Olympique Lyonnais

Lyon Links

• Official site, French only
• OLplus unofficial, also in French only.
• http://www.multimania.com/kemp/
• http://www.firegone.fr.st/
• http://www.multimania.com/stefanbazan/ol4ever/index.html . They host a mailing-list also available at http://www.egroups.com/messages/ol4ever

Head-to-Head Arsenal vs Olympique Lyonnais

Total record

Full record

13/02/2001   HOME     Champs League stage 2 match 3
21/02/2001   AWAY     Champs League stage 2 match 4

Olympique Lyonnais Info

• Founded 1950. The club was originally known as FC Lyon then Lyon Olympique Villeurbanne and Lyon Olympique Universitaire.
  
  
• Colours : White with 2 vertical red and blue stripes (the city' s colours) at home, blue with red and white stripes away. The grey third kit has been issued for the European campaign.
  
  
• Stadium : Gerland stadium capacity is 43,000. It underwent a facelift for the '98 World Cup and details are available here.
  
  
• Honours :
  Division Two champions : 1951, 54, 89. Their best position in the top flight was second to Nantes in 1995 when current Fulham boss Jean Tigana started his managerial career.
  Coupe de France winners : 1964, 67, 73 ; runners-up : 1963, 71, 76
  Coupe de la Ligue : 1996 runners-up
  Coupe Gambardella (Youth Cup) winners : 1970, 93, 97 ; runners-up : 1971, 94
  OL are currently the reigning u-17 and u-15 champions.
  
  Lyon finished 3rd in the league last season (W16, D8, L10, GF45, GA42) and entered the Champions League after they saw out Inter Bratislava in the preliminary round (both legs ended in a narrow 2-1 win). Their hopes were to qualify for the second round and therefore will play from now on with less pressure on their shoulders. Arsène is fully aware of that and said OL are a dangerous outsider although they got through after conceding three defeats, albeit each time by a mere one goal margin.
  
  Scorers in the CL First Round : Marlet 3 ; Anderson, Foe, Laigle, Malbranque, Houittin (Heerenveen, og) 1
  
  
• Stattos will be happy to know that a comprehensive listing of Lyon' s European appareances is available here. Suffice to say here that their best season was in 1964 when they reached the ECWC semi-finals and that they eliminated our 'friends' from down the road in 1967/68. Prior to 2000/01 they played 68 games in all competitions (W34, D9, L25, GF108, GA105)
  
  Following their ambitious president Jean-Michel Aulas, whose model in football is Man. Utd., the club spent heavily these two past seasons to succeed both domestically and in Europe : They bought this year Foé from West Ham (£6m), Marlet from Auxerre (£4m), Müller from Grasshoppers (£5m) and Edmilson (£7m). Their budget is reportedly around £45 million.
  
  Current boss is Jacques Santini who took over from Bernard Lacombe last August whereas Il signore Trappatoni had been once linked with the club. A former A.S. Saint-Etienne player during the 70's, he has as much charisma as a matchbox and fans still don' t understand M. Aulas' s choice. The technical staff too underwent changes in the wake of Santini' s arrival and it took therefore time for all to settle in : Assistants Cuperly and Bats know Arsenal from their AJ Auxerre days when we played them during the 94/95 ECWC campaign. An other link between Arse and OL is good ol' Rémi Garde who started his career there.
  
  Olympique Lyonnais' s main strenghts reside in their forward line and the back four : They are currently the second best defence in the league, having conceded 14 goals in 15. Add to that that the midfield lacks creativity and you' ll see why they play better away. Adept of the turn-over, boss Santini reverts sometimes from a 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3 formation.
  
  
• The Squad :
  
  Goalkeepers :
  
  1 - Grégory Coupet, 28yr, joined Lyon 3 years ago from rivals A.S. Saint-Etienne. Despite he' s a better player since GK trainer Joël Bats' s arrival at the club, he must improve in the air and sometimes lacks concentration during a game, hence silly goals being conceded.
  30 - Angelo Hughes, 34yr.
  
  Defenders :
  
  2 - Eric Deflandre, 27yr, is a Belgian international who choosed to sign for Lyon ahead of Liverpool this summer. The right-back is fairly offensive-minded but rather clumsy.
  19 - Second choice right-back Jean-Marc Chanelet, 32yr, was included in the Nantes team who met Arsenal last season in the UEFA Cup. His nose bleeds when he crosses the half-way line and links not well up with team-mates.
  4 - Florent Laville, 27 yr. The emblematic defender is born and bred Lyonnais. Often late in tackles, which earned him many bookings and red cards, 'Flo' sustained a long-term knee injury and could miss both Arsenal games.
  3 - J. Gomes de Moraes a.k.a. Edmilson, 24yr. You can see why Arsène was keen to sign him : The lad oozes class and added rigour to the defence. Composed on the ball and good in the air, he likes to urge forward (and therefore is sometimes caught out of position), rarely gives the ball away while his long-ball passing is close to the perfection.
  26 - Jérémie Bréchet, 21yr. Youth product. He is a regular u-21 French international who can play everywhere in defence, but not offensive-minded, even at left-back.
  20 - Patrick Müller, 23yr. The Swiss international joined Lyon last summer from Grasshoppers Zürich. His main asset is his heading and Juventus signed him 2 years ago but he never played for them. Never impressed me either.
  5 - Jacek Bak, 27yr. A Poland A Int' l, he never fulfilled the hopes raised when he first joined Lyons 5 years ago, hence the latest additions of Müller and Edmilson to the squad. He is now a regular bench-warmer despite he also can play in central midfield or sweeper. Add to that he is injury-prone and you' ve got an idea of the lad.
  12 - Serge Blanc, 28yr. Born in Lyons, he spent his career on the Mediterranean shores at Montpellier then Marseilles. A strong defender who relishes physical challenges and likes going forwards, he can play CB or left-back and has a good left-foot shot.
  
  Midfielders :
  
  10 - Vikash Dhorasoo, 27yr, was supposed to be the playmaker 'Les Gones' were missing. Although a very gifted player, 'Vishnu' rarely shone in that role especially during big games. Tends to fade when marked closely as he doesn' t relish physical challenges.
  18 - Steed Malbranque, 20yr has always been capped for France since he is 15. A local youth product and now a u-21 regular, the small and bloody fast offensive midfielder is at his best when he is given the floating role behind the front two : He can be as dangerous on the left when cutting inside than on the right, running up and down the touchline. Tremendous acceleration but erratic distribution.
  6 - Philippe Violeau, 30yr. Another one who played Arsenal with former club Auxerre. PV6 is a defensive midfielder whose workrate is impressive and his game similar to Didier Deschamps' s.
  22 - David Linares, 25yr. Youth product. Defensive midfielder.
  17 - Marc-Vivien Foé, 25yr. You might remember the tall and athletic Cameroon player from his spell at West Ham and that he was wearing the colours of RC Lens in '98.
  8 - Pierre Laigle, 30yr, joined OL from Sampdoria. Formerly a left-winger he lost of his pace but still has a good shot.
  15 - Christophe Delmotte, 31yr. ditto Laigle : besides, both were at Lens before. The strongly-buit midfielder also plays at LB when needed and is a good crosser of the ball.
  
  Forwards :
  
  9 - Sonny Anderson Da Silva, 30yr. The former Barcelona player is the more experienced Lyons player with 42 European games played so far (17 goals) ahead of Violeau (34) and Delmotte (30).
  7 - Steve Marlet, 27yr. Very good in the air, he dribbles well, is damn fast and usually plays on the right handside of the front line. He deserved to be called up for France against Turkey earlier this month for the injuried TH12 and came on for Trézéguet nine minutes from time.
  11 - Tony Vairelles, 27yr. Remember him? He is still the same player, committed to his new club like he was to RC Lens he left in 1999. Warms more than often the bench since the Anderson-Marlet partnership is firing on all cylinders, hence his unhappiness.
  14 - Sydney Govou, 21yr, is another u-21 French int' l formed at the club. Very fast and very sharp, the youngster isn' t reluctant to drop back to defend. A revelation.