Lille take on Lyon in battle of flailing giants
Neither Lille nor Lyon would style themselves as mid-table mediocrities. But when the putative big guns trundle out onto the turf on Sunday afternoon at the Stade Pierre Mauroy, their respective points tallies lay bare the realities.
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Lille have made a right royal mess of their Ligue 1 title defence: 24 points from 17 games and 11th place.
Lyon, in 12th, have mustered 23 points after 16 matches. Pacesetters Paris Saint-Germain are over the hills and far away with 42 points.
The 18th round of matches this weekend in the French top flight won't season a title tilt for this diminished duo.
At best it could fire a scramble back towards the foothills of the summit.
For Lyon and their president Jean-Michel Aulas, down table obscurity runs out of synch with his vision of a high plains powerhouse.
Dominance
His club - Champions League semi-finalists in 2020 - boasts the most sustained period of dominance in French league history with seven consecutive top flight titles between 2002 and 2008.
But that was in the before times. Since Qatar Sports Investment bought up PSG in June 2011, Lyon have not managed to arrest PSG’s development. Monaco pulled off the feat in 2017 as did Lille in 2021. Otherwise it’s lucre-laden PSG a-waltzing to the spoils.
Lille, however, managed to upstage the Parisian squillionaires on Wednesday night in the Champions League.
They finished top of their pool for the first time to qualify for the knockout stages - a feat no other Lille squad has managed since 2007.
Lille boss Jocelyn Gourvennec, who took over from Christophe Galtier in the summer, hailed his players for their self-belief.
After the first three games of Group G, Lille had amassed two points. But a win in Seville on 2 November was followed by a victory in Lille over Salzburg on 23 November. And they clinched top spot with a 3-1 success at Wolfsburg.
Belief
“We didn't get out of our six-game project,” said Gourvennec dryly after the win in Wolfsburg. “Regardless of the very negative comments at the start of the competition.”
On Monday, Lille will go into the Champions League last 16 draw and could face potential adversaries such as Chelsea, Benfica, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan.
PSG, who finished second in Group A behind Manchester City, could be pitted against the likes of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool or Ajax.
While Lille were on their way to a minor coup in a foreign land, Lyon were licking their wounds after Ligue 1 disciplinary watchdogs docked them a point for fan violence during the game on 21 November against Marseille.
The match was suspended after the Marseille skipper Dimitri Payet was hit on the head by a full bottle of water thrown from the stands at the Groupama Stadium
Penalty
The culprit was found and ejected but the hooliganism has cost his team a point. Lyon say they might appeal against the sanction.
Though Marseille wanted all three points, the Ligue de Football Professionnel ordered the match to be replayed behind closed doors.
Were third placed Marseille to win, that would cut PSG’s lead to 10 points.
However, with the chance to deploy Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Angel Di Maria while waiting for Neymar to recover from his injuries, Mauricio Pochettino’s side seem unlikely to meltdown sufficiently to reignite a title race.
The realistic focus, with half a season over - is on the fight for the places in next season’s European competitions.
On Sunday, after Lille and Lyon have battled, the season’s surprise package Rennes, who have risen to second, will test their mettle against fourth-placed Nice. Strasbourg in sixth take on Marseille before Monaco in seventh play at PSG.
“When you are a professional, you cultivate this feeling of self-esteem,” said Gourvennec.
“This can often make the difference. If we manage to keep working and keep this confidence we can do great things.”
And why not? But absolutely no one - not even Gourvennec - has Lille marked down as one of the Champions League finalists in St Petersburg next May.
But then again who guessed that Thomas Tuchel would reemerge from his PSG dismissal in December 2020 to claim the Champions League crown with Chelsea five months later?
Before the Lille faithful can dream of such fortunes, there are rather more pressing parochial concerns.
“If we beat Lyon,” added Gourvennec. “We'll be able to climb back into the top 10.”
The glory trail. Step by step.
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