Olympique Lyonnais travels to Glasgow to challenge Rangers on Thursday (9:00 p.m.) in the Europa League, with the momentum of a mini-series of victories with a base that is certainly fragile, but provides lessons on the border between holders and replacements.
The rivals followed similar trajectories before their duel at the Ibrox stadium: a failed takeoff (3 victories in 7 matches for Glasgow) or even completely failed (1 success in 5 matches for OL), then a recovery that began at the end of September.
The Scots thus approach the European meeting with four victories in a row, all without conceding a goal; the French have just won twice in a row, against Olympiakos (2-0) and Toulouse (2-1).
If the six points acquired in the space of four days did not generate euphoria, far from it, they at least had the merit of giving some breathing room and some lessons to Pierre Sage.
Before that, the Lyon coach was riding the tide and was a thousand miles from the miracle recovery accomplished during the second part of the last championship. The results have somewhat stabilized the fragile boat of the former temporary worker, confirmed in July until 2026.
The victory in Toulouse, the first away this season, was snatched in added time on an action by Rayan Cherki enhanced by Malick Fofana, also a substitute at kick-off.
The French attacking midfielder and the Belgian winger, 21 and 19 years old respectively, have taken another step towards “our” departure, as much by their individual performances as by the bankruptcy of their competitors in the same positions.
Multiple formulas
In Toulouse, Pierre Sage castigated the attitudes that came out of him “through the eyes” of certain holders of the day, between “technical errors” and lack of solidarity: “the reaction when the colleague loses (the ball), the players stop and complain a little. This is not good”.
The technician particularly singled out Wilfried Zaha and Georges Mikautadze, two summer recruits, among the poor performers.
The Georgian international is particularly disappointing, given the high expectations that accompanied his arrival. He has still not scored this season, like captain Alexandre Lacazette.
In attack, Sage has tried multiple combinations without really finding a satisfactory solution to date. He only maintained the same formula once (Lacazette and Gift Orban) from one match to the next, during the 0-0 draw at Lens then during the match lost 3-2 against Marseille.
He has refused for the moment to start Cherki, left out of the group at the start of the season but decisive in each of his entries since he was reinstated.
As for Fofana, he would like to see him bite the ball like he does coming off the bench. In other words, he is not content with a replacement role in which he has excelled so far.
Regardless of the starting line-up, the Lyonnais will collectively have to absorb the pressure of a summit at the Ibrox stadium, an intimidating temple of « Gers » by Philippe Clement, former Monaco coach.
The Scots have lost only one of their last 17 European matches there. It was against… Lyon (0-2), in September 2021, already in the Europa League.
This season, “we have already faced the Lens crowd, also good teams at home, we played in Rennes too. We are able to respond to this type of playing context. Afterwards, this is a historic stadium with a historic club against which we must put in a historic performance”launched Sage on Wednesday to the media.