Barca loss to spur Lyon in French League

Lyon have endured a torrid time of late – out of sorts in the league, kicked out of the League Cup, and on the wrong end of a midweek bashing from Barcelona.

The 5-2 rout in Catalonia shattered Lyon’s dreams of European glory leaving Karim Benzema and his teammates with only one target for the rest of the season – an eighth successive French championship.

Their share price on the Paris Bourse fell sharply after Wednesday’s Nou Camp reverse and Claude Puel’s men may be forgiven for looking anxiously over their shoulders as Paris Saint Germain are waiting to pounce just one point behind.

So there will be no time for self-pity as they host mid-table Auxerre this weekend out to end a run of five games in all competitions without a win.

Despite these nervy times there are those who feel it would be reckless to write off Lyon’s bid for an unprecedented eighth League title.

Alain Casanova, manager of one of their main rivals, fourth-placed Toulouse, believes for instance that despite their chastening experience in Catalonia Lyon “still have an advantage on their rivals.”

He dismissed the notion that the loss could trigger “a mental implosion” at the Stade Gerland.

“On the contrary it’s going to give them even more desire to capture the title and to silence their critics,” he said.

“Lyon, thanks to their team and experience, always have an advantage over the rest and remain for me favourites to defend their title.”

Bernard Lacombe, who acts as adviser to Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas, conceded that this season has not been a vintage one, and stressed that “we absolutely have to win an eighth title.”

He added: “We can’t have any excuses, we have to take maximum points at the stade Gerland to excuse ourselves from our Cup defeats.”

And he set hot shot striker Benzema a target of “five goals in the next four games against Auxerre, Sochaux, Le Mans and Monaco.”

PSG are going great guns and will need to keep up the form that has seen them emerge as Lyon’s main title rivals at the Velodrome where on Thursday Marseille defeated Dutch giants Ajax 2-1.

PSG themselves turn up on the back of a goalless draw against Portugal’s Braga at the Parc des Princes.

France’s third representative in the UEFA Cup last 16, Saint Etienne, lost 1-0 at Werder Bremen, and will be going for a pick-me-up at Grenoble.

Fixtures

Saturday

Sochaux v Nancy

Le Mans v Rennes

Monaco v Toulouse

Nantes v Lorient

Valenciennes v Le Havre

Caen v Lille

Bordeaux v Nice

Sunday

Lyon v Auxerre

Grenoble v Saint Etienne

Paris Saint Germain v Marseille