well if it isn't our favorite whipping boy! if anyone should be out for revenge on us it will be them. but once shaktar went elsewhere right off the bat there were only tough draws.
Yeah although Shakhtar are a very dangerous side, have some great attacking talent and i believe are unbeaten at home in their new stadium. I wouldn't have been to disappointed at facing Bayern Munich if i'm honest they are not anything like they were last season!
Always Real, always LOL. Now I'm particularly concerned about losing Makoun in Jan. Who's going to smash a 40m golazo on them now???
toule actually has a very nice shot! the fact he's only scored twice in his career is one of the mysteries of the universe. kallstrom has a wicked shot as well. and bastos. no, the only worry i have is defense.
now what kind of nonsense is that? like bastos says, if everyone is at their best lyon has a good chance of advancing. i'll go even farther: if lyon plays the way they did against toulouse last weekend, or against benfica the first time, real madrid has no chance.
If everyone is healthy, Briand, Lisandro, Bastos, Gourcuff, Toulalan should all be out there. Gomis on the bench.
realistically speaking Madrid are the clear favorites for this tie. they have Mourinho as a coach now, they've only lost 1 game all season, they have picked up some important players since last time we met them. they are a stronger side than this time last year. im not saying that Lyon are doomed. they've always had the ability to beat any team in the world on their day. im just saying that we shouldn't be jumping for joy at this draw.
gomis has been a lot more useful than briand lately, and lisandro playing beside him actually seems to be blooming at a position that made him wilt last season. well don't be ridiculous cousin larry! of course we're huge underdogs. but if we're going to win this thing we have to beat everyone, and if we don't, it's good to have a crack at madrid anyway for plenty reasons.
Hi everyone, Speaking on behalf of some Madridistas, we are very nervous for this match. If you have been following RMCF, we have been playing weak football lately. All of a sudden one of our best players in the first half of the season, Di Maria, has lost his form. Benzema is still trying to find his old self, the defense is conceding goals, and Iker has too many WTF moments to be considered the best in the world. Of course rumors of the special one being unhappy in Madrid make matters worse. I think many of our starters are fatigued and need a rest. Today we play Sevilla in our league cup at home. If we win we play barca in the final. I have been following Ligue 1 somewhat this year, its been pretty close and exciting. I like the league, PSG is my favorite team. Anyways I think Lyon are in a similar situation as Real Madrid. However I think you guys need to sack Puel. He just no longer seems the right man for the job. I'm very surprised Gourcuff has been awful this season. I have a feeling though he will come to play against Madrid when it matters. After this season Lyon need to be rebuilt a little bit. Starting with a new coach, a replacement for Cris (old and slow), and someone who is better than Kallstrom as a CM. Best wishes!
the two teams are indeed in similar situations; the most worrying for us is that when we play poorly (coming off two catastrophic matches) it seems to be as much a question of confidence as complacency. being fired up won't be enough this time. and if in the past RMCF has taken us too lightly it's not likely to be the case this year, the sting from last year must still smart. but i've never been confident going into a draw against madrid, so this is no different.
You know what? It doesnt bother me that Lisandro is out against RM. Briand and Bastos looked AWESOME against Nancy and Lisandro has been a bit of a diva lately. So....yeah. Lets see what Jimmy "better bicycle kick than Rooney" Briand can do against the Madridistas.
i remember our first victory against madrid in 2005; of course real were favorites then too. we beat them 3-0 and made it look easy. in retrospect OL was very possibly the best team in europe that year, something even the biggest lyon fans never suspected because our players didn't have the aura, the reputation, that they established... starting with that victory. there is some similarity to this year's team. at their best, at the full measure of their potential, the lineup we'll field tomorrow is an awesome crew, even without lisandro. the quality that wins champions' leagues and even world cups. we haven't seen more than hints of that yet, or more precisely, have seen each and every player perform at that worldbeating level, sometimes 4 or 5 of them at a time, but never the team as a whole. will that happen tomorrow? most likely not, but it is still within the realm of possibility.
I'd like to think that something clicked within the last 2 league games for Lyon. They certainly have scored a lot of goals (8) in their last 2 encounters. Maybe Gourcuff has also found his stride finally. Its hard to know for sure because the opponents seemed to just roll over and die on us. Real Madrid will be a true test however. I hope all the players saw the Arsenal-Barca game and realize that Lyon have a very real chance of winning, they just need to continue playing how they played against St Etienne and Nancy. I'm glad that Puel has the experience of playing against this side in the CL. He won't be afraid to take chances. Maybe the psychology is a bit different when you are facing Mourinho but the style and will to win should be the same as last year. Let's not forget that Lyon were also struggling around this time in the season last year and then made a late run of good form to finish second in the league. Lyon should expect to be able to do the same or better this time.
I am not a Lyon fan but I always support French teams in Europe and I am less excited about watching this match without him there.
Infostrada Sports on Twitter: "All four Champions League goals tonight were scored by French players. French players have scored 37 goals this CL season, leading all other countries."
the invincible lyon. just need a cheeky 2 all at the SB and your through to the next round. best of luck!
Well, you guys went out and got a 1-1 at Madrid last year... Why not do it again? I'm assuming Lisandro will be healthy by then?
i for one was very pleased with last night's match. if the result gives a healthy statistical advantage to madrid, the content we saw on the field gives me more hope of getting past than i had at kickoff. and this was a madrid that looked good: not "à la ramasse" like in 2005; not overconfident and supercilious like in 2010. but in the first half we showed we were able to play at their level and more. a great shame the effort furnished in those 45' didn't find its way onto the scoreboard, because it was predictable and inevitable that RM would come out in the second half both fresher and more focussed. they hit more than the woodwork on those two setpieces: our confidence and concentration took a knock, and for half an hour OL was dangerously close to foundering with all hands. all the more reason to appreciate the mental toughness the team has recently found; gomis' equalizer was late but logical, and in the dying minutes the smell of a comeback victory was wafting in the breeze. so the possibility of a(nother) historic visit to the bernabéu is open. a greater one. last year's only led to the quarters: believing last year's OL could have lifted "old big ears" required a grip on reality one must politely qualify as tenuous. the same three weeks from now, based on last night's exhibition, can lead much farther. so our unbeated streak against the richest and most titled club in the world continues. and a perverse but very real satisfaction can be had from the fact that of the hundreds of millions of euros worth of talent RMCF has put on the pitch at gerland in four outings, the only player who has managed to score... is lyonnais.
this seen on maxifoot: L'attaquant du Real Madrid, Karim Benzema (23 ans, 6 matchs et 5 buts en C1 cette saison) a fait bien du mal à son club formateur mardi soir (1-1), mais a préféré ne pas célébrer son but. "Je ne me sentais pas de fêter mon but car j'ai grandi dans ce club, c'est grâce à lui que je suis au Real aujourd'hui. C'est un bon résultat, ce but est important avant le match retour", a commenté l'ancien Lyonnais au micro de Canal+, avant de s'exprimer sur sa non-titularisation à Gerland. "J'étais déçu, je ne vais pas le cacher, j'avais envie de jouer en plus je fais de bons matchs en ce moment. Après, le coach a fait son choix, j'ai essayé de rester compétitif jusqu'au bout. Je continue à travailler et je pense que ça va le faire", a positivé Benzema. (Par Nicolas Lagavardan) which explains what i think we all noticed: that karim didn't celebrate the goal he scored and that showed class.