French connection get varied reaction to Euro hangovers
And so it seemed for an hour or so at the Stade Velodrome on Sunday night, when the two Olympiques – Marseille and Lyon – met to decide which club would be challenging Bordeaux for the title this season.
Back in November when the two met at Lyon’s Stade Gerland they produced the first 5-5 draw in over 50 years.
Marseille led 4-2, then the home side scored three times before a last second equaliser. Five goals came in a wild final 13 minutes with errors by the two top French keepers, Hugo Lloris and Steve Mandanda heightening the drama.
Maybe the Goalkeepers Union had imposed a work-to-rule on Sunday, because the first half was a tame affair.
Lyon still seemed to be recovering from their shock success against Real Madrid, while Marseille had a different sort of hangover after a last-minute Benfica goal knocked them out of the Europa League on Thursday.
It wasn’t exactly shadow boxing. Lyon started with the same side they put out in the second half in Madrid, and hit the crossbar twice. But the way the two sets of players left the pitch at half-time, almost arm in arm, it felt as if they were ready to settle for a draw – which was odd because that was a result that suited neither side.
Something happened to Marseille in the dressing room. Maybe it was their manager Didier Deschamps reminding them that a win would put them just three points behind the leaders. Maybe their heads had cleared after that knock out blow from the Portuguese.
Suddenly the chances were coming and Lyon seemed to falter. It still took a horrible deflection to beat Lloris, the ball arching just over his despairing fingertips after a shot from Charles Kaboré, and even then they came back thanks to a guided header from substitute striker Bafétimbi Gomis, strangely unmarked in front of goal.
Silence in a stunned Velodrome, apart from a joyful squawk from the directors’ box, where Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas leaped from his seat before suddenly seeming to remember that he was an away fan in the home end. It never pays to celebrate too soon. And definitely not when Taye Taiwo is on the other side.
The Nigerian is one of those full backs with a shot like a missile. The guidance system is prone to the odd glitch, but when it works the missile can remove anything in its path, including the goal.
This one was launched on the diagonal about two feet above the ground and travelled in a straight line into the corner of the net. Llloris made a great effort to touch it but may be secretly thankful that he failed.
A superb goal was the cue for possibly the worst goal celebration in history (it may become a YouTube classic) and this time there was no coming back for the Lyonnais, even though their captain Cris had the Marseille goal at his mercy with 10 seconds of the match remaining.
That miss must have had the men in Bordeaux cursing. The draw would have been the perfect result for the league leaders, who are neck and neck with another Mediterranean club Montpellier, but have a game in hand, and a better goal difference.
Marseille however are now a genuine threat in fourth place, also with a game in hand on the two clubs above them, as well as Lyon and Lille below them.
Could that Europa League defeat turn out to be a blessing? Certainly both Bordeaux and Lyon are already building up to the Battle of France in the Champions League quarter-final.
Bordeaux are petitioning the French authorities to get Lyon’s match against Grenoble shifted from Friday to Saturday, because Bordeaux have to play the French League Cup Final on Saturday night and they want “equal treatment” before the two sides meet in the first leg.
“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” declared a huffy Aulas, arguing that Bordeaux “have to make a choice” and that the fixture clash was predictable.
It’s not often that the French have an event like this to look forward to, and it seems that, as ever, TV schedules are to blame for the match being scheduled on the Tuesday rather than a day later.
