Puel pleased with Lyon spirit

Lyon will seek to continue their push for qualification from Group E of the Champions League when they travel to Debrecen.

The French club started their European challenge with a 1-0 victory over Fiorentina, Miralem Pjanic’s late strike sinking the Italians.

Lyon are likely to be missing key players Michel Bastos and Lisandro Lopez against the Hungarian side as they recover from injury.

General manager Claude Puel said: “The squad has a real strength and team spirit. Beating Fiorentina was a great way to start off at home.

“They were a very difficult side to play against as they are very experienced.

“We managed to remain calm and even though I believe we can play a lot better, I’m not going to complain.

“The match against Debrecen won’t be easy. We will have to find space, solutions and these type of matches are always difficult to get through. We will have to remain focused.”

Lyon have established an excellent away record in recent group-stage campaigns, winning 10 and losing just two of 15 games since 2004.

Last season they prevailed at Steaua Bucharest and Fiorentina and drew at Bayern Munich.

On the domestic front, they continued their unbeaten Ligue 1 record with a 2-1 victory over Toulouse on Saturday.

Debrecen, coached by Andras Herczeg, enter the tie on the back of a 4-4 draw away to Kaposvar and have already played 15 matches this season.

They sit 16th in the Hungarian league with 16 points, three points behind leaders Videoton with two matches in hand.

Competing for the first time in the Champions League, the Eastern Europeans have won four of the last five Hungarian titles.

They put in a creditable showing in their maiden outing, going down 1-0 to Premier League side Liverpool.