L'Olympique Lyonnais are a wild card team in this tournament. They can hardly be said to have the European pedigree to rub shoulders with the great Milan or Barcelona sides. Their only trophy was their French League title (the first of seven consecutive titles), which they prized out of the hands of Lens on the final day of the season. But they lost half their Champions League matches that season (two of the three to Barcelona) before exiting the Uefa Cup to Slovan Liberec. That is the case against them being here. The case for them goes that they are representative of a "Lyon era" that began with this team and went on for almost a decade. In that time they were regular participants in late Champions League rounds, including a semi-final in 2010. I chose the 2001/2002 incarnation over the later versions mainly because it includes a number of players who are worthy inclusions in the tournament but would otherwise not be there. It's a personal choice but I'm more excited by Sonny Anderson over Gomis, Juninho over Kallstrom, Marc Vivien Foe over Makoun, Edmilson over Cris and Coupet over Lloris. So here are Lyon, a team with no pedigree but if Valencia underestimate them, things could go horribly wrong for the 2000 Champions League finalists.
Valencia under Hector Cuper challenged the Real-Barcelona hegemony in Spain and for a brief time were the most dangerous team in the Champions League draw - reaching back to back finals in 2000 and 2001. They came heart breakingly close to winning the second final, losing on penalties but it was the first team from the prior season that the mind conjours up when thinking of Valencia in its pomp. Claudio Lopez and Angulo at the tip of a deadly counter attack. Kily Gonzalez and Gaizka Mendieta on the flanks, Farinos holding the middle and Gerard a roving creative menace. All of that made possible by a classic back four - Djukic and Pellegrino in the middle, Anglomar and Gerardo on the flanks all marshaled by Canizares in goal. The bench had depth too, Juan Sanchez, Joachim Bjorklund, Adrian Illie and David Albelda.
They sold Lopez to Lazio for big money after the final (also Farinos to Inter and Gerard to Barcelona). They brought in a raft of players with the cash some of whom worked (Baraja, Ayala, Aimar) and some of whom did not (Carew, Deschamps, Zahovic) and whilst they again made the final and perhaps should have won it, they were a distant fifth domestically. A year later, with Benitez replacing Cuper they won the domestic league but never reached the same heights in Europe.
Sonny Anderson vs Claudio Lopez could be a mouth watering display of running attack.
2001 /2002 Lyon 1999/2000 Valencia
GK Coupet Canizares
FB Deflandre Gerardo
CB Edmilson Djukic
CB Muller Pellegrino
FB Brechet Anglomar
MF Carriere Mendieta
MF Foe Farinos
MF Juninho Gerard
MF Laigle Kily Gonzalez
CF Govou Angulo
CF Anderson Claudio Lopez
No comments:
Post a Comment