Lyon hope to build on Euro boost

The Champions League has been plain sailing to date for Lyon, who already have a foot in the knockout phase, but in the league it seems they can do nothing right.

Such schizophrenia is not the norm for a club that landed seven straight league titles before Bordeaux knocked them off their perch two seasons ago.

But recent weeks have brought one puzzling performance after another.

Last weekend’s 1-0 loss at home to Saint-Etienne in the 100th Derby du Rhone came despite one of their best performances of the campaign to date, but left them in the drop zone with just one win from seven league games.

A measure of redemption arrived with a mid-week win at Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Champions League, which, following on from an opening success against Schalke, has seen morale tentatively rising ahead of Saturday’s trip to Nancy.

Michel Bastos was Lyon’s match-winner in Israel with a first-half brace, which included a spectacular second goal to take his European haul to three this term, but he quickly switched his focus back to matters domestic.

“Helping my team with a goal like that was great, but now we have to think about the Nancy game and go into that one in the right frame of mind,” said the Brazilian international.

Swedish midfielder Kim Kallstrom says he cannot put his finger on why Lyon have managed to collect maximum points from their European dates, but failed to reproduce that form in the league.

“We really worked for each other,” said Kallstrom of the win in Tel Aviv.

“But it’s true that we have been having a few problems in front of goal, even though we have performing at a high level.”

All the more galling for Lyon is that it is Saint-Etienne who have been setting the Ligue 1 pace after decades in the doldrums.

Lyon’s title success in 2002 was their first ever, whereas their neighbours had reached double figures by 1981.

Les Verts have failed to win the trophy since then, enduring spells in the second division and narrowly avoiding relegation from the top flight in the last two seasons.

With 16 points from seven games, however, things are looking up at a club best known for being Michel Platini’s stamping ground before he went on to even greater things with Juventus.

Under Christophe Galtier, who took over from Alain Perrin last December, Saint-Etienne have opened up a one-point lead over Rennes, with Toulouse a point further back in third place.

Defending champions Marseille, beaten mid-week at Chelsea and five points off the pace, arrive at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard on Saturday.

A first win at Lyon in 17 years means the game is a 35,000 sell-out and Galtier is already talking about European places.

“We have 16 points, and last season it took us until December to have that many,” he said.

Yet he admits that “Marseille will be a tough nut to crack”.

Didier Deschamps’s men have already lost twice this campaign and appear vulnerable after demoralising Champions League losses at home to Spartak Moscow and away to Chelsea.

Elsewhere, Paris Saint-Germain could climb into the top four with victory at home to Nice on Sunday, while Rennes host Toulouse with both clubs aspiring to leapfrog Saint-Etienne.

Auxerre, narrowly beaten 1-0 by Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday, continue their quest for a first win of the season at bottom side Arles-Avignon.

Fixtures

Saturday (1700GMT unless otherwise stated):

Sochaux v Lens, Bordeaux v Lorient, Nancy v Lyon, Valenciennes v Caen, Monaco v Brest, Arles-Avignon v Auxerre, Saint-Etienne v Marseille (1900GMT)

Sunday (1500GMT unless otherwise stated):

Lille v Montpellier, Paris Saint-Germain v Nice, Rennes v Toulouse (1900GMT)