17 October 2016
Record in Europe
Olympique Lyonnais are currently involved in their 17th Champions League campaign – more than any other French club.
Whenever they have qualified for Europe’s premier club competition, they have almost always got out of their group. Their only failure to do so occurred last term, when they finished fourth.
UCL semi-finalists in 2009/10, Lyon had to settle for Europa League participation between 2012 and 2015 and would come up against Juventus in the 2013/14 quarter-finals, losing 3-1 on aggregate.
The French outfit’s record against Italian sides is certainly a respectable one, winning seven and drawing four in 18 matches.
The season so far
Lyon have experienced mixed fortunes so far in 2016/17 both at home and overseas.
Having started their Ligue 1 season with a pair of victories against Nancy and Caen, Les Gones have only won two of their last seven games in France’s top tier (against Montpellier and Saint-Etienne), suffering four defeats in the process to Dijon, Bordeaux, Lorient and most recently Nice on Friday night. Matchday 5 saw them share the spoils away to Marseille in a goalless draw.
This run of form has seen Bruno Genesio’s men slip to eighth place in the league table, where they sit on 13 points, ten off table-topping Nice.
In Europe, meanwhile, Lyon eased to a 3-0 win at home to Dinamo Zagreb in their first Group H game before succumbing to a 1-0 loss away to Sevilla, leaving them on three points and in third place behind the Spaniards and current group leaders Juventus.
Despite Lyon’s inconsistent showings this season, the Bianconeri will be wary of their strong record at home, where they have lost just once in 2016/17 (against Bordeaux), scoring in every single game they have played at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais, which opened on 9 January 2016.
Key men
Lyon count among their ranks one of the country’s hottest striking properties in Alexandre Lacazette. The France international forward, who has 76 goals to his name across all competitions from his last three seasons with Les Gones, once again leads his side’s scoring charts this term with six goals so far (all of which in Ligue 1).
Meanwhile in midfield, 22-year-old Corentin Tolisso is continuing to impress, netting five and providing two assists in all competitions this term. A key member of France’s Under 21s, Tolisso has now had a hand in 31 goals for Les Gones since the start of the 2014/15 season.
The man in charge
Having represented Lyon for 10 seasons as a player between 1985 and 1995, Bruno Génésio returned to the club in 2011 as assistant manager before stepping up to the number one position on Christmas Eve 2015.
The 50-year-old, who had previously only coached in France’s lower leagues with Villefranche and Besancon RC, would steer Lyon to second place in Ligue 1 by the end of the 2015/16 season, posting an impressive win percentage of 59 per cent in the process. This is his first ever experience of testing his managerial mettle in the Champions League.
