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The most important week of the first part of the season. Since the return of the international truce of November, Olympique Lyonnais has to contend with a very busy schedule. Bruno Genesio's men have crucial matches to play. The first was in Ligue 1 against AS Saint-Etienne. If all was not perfect, the Lyonnais won 1-0 in the derby and took second place in the championship. Before defying the LOSC on Saturday, the Rhodaniens faced Manchester City on Tuesday night at Groupama Stadium on behalf of the fifth round of the UEFA Champions League. A crucial meeting for Lyon (6 points before the match) that could qualify directly for the knockout stages of the queen event if successful or even with a draw if Hoffenheim (3 points) or Shakhtar Donestk (2 points) did not win.
A crucial match against Shakhtar
Undefeated since the beginning of the season in the competition (1 win, 3 draws), the French club had to deal with a Mancunian team she had beaten at Etihad Stadium on September 19 (1-2) . And yesterday, OL was not far from a new feat. The Gones got a good draw (2-2), but they could have hoped for better who had huge opportunities in the first period with Memphis and Maxwel Cornet. With this result, City (10 points) is qualified, but Lyon (7 points) is not yet. Yet Lyon thought it was a few minutes. While the result was 2-2 between Hoffenheim and Shakhtar Donetsk, the Ukrainians won 3-2 on the wire. With 5 points, Shakhtar can qualify if he beats Lyon on December 12th. For its part, OL will have a draw or a victory to reach the 1 / 8th finals.
This shock against the Ukrainians will be crucial. And it could be played on neutral ground as confessed Jean-Michel Aulas mixed zone. "We asked that UEFA look at what is happening in Ukraine. This is the crisis in this country. We do not really want to go to Kharkov because there is a lot of insecurity. It is hard to find a plane to go there. There will be exchanges with UEFA to keep everyone safe. Whatever happens, we'll go to win ". A message that is also that of Anthony Lopes, a little disappointed that the OL did not qualify in front of his audience. "We had a full match. We had a little disappointment on the end, because the qualification was reaching us with a few seconds. So we will have to go to qualify in a place where it is very cold. We will go quietly. We will go there with our weapons and try to qualify. "
OL will play the stroke thoroughly
Same speech on Bruno Genesio's side. "We're a little frustrated that we're not qualified tonight, because it's played out very little. But we must remember the positive and what we did well tonight (Tuesday). All Champions League games are complicated. But today, we are unbeaten. We are in a position to qualify. We will go there with ambition, with confidence. We had won last year in Moscow in difficult conditions because it was very cold. We will already be well prepared now for the league games. We'll have time to talk about this game later. " Still, the Gones could have already been safe from those who missed several chances to qualify for the knockout stages this season.
Bruno Genesio acknowledged: "I think we can only blame ourselves. It's played on Hoffenheim's two matches, especially the return here where we had everything to win. We were 2-0, we had the numerical superiority, we had created many chances of goals to kill the game. We did not manage to do it. If we must have some regrets today, it is especially on this match there. Tonight, there is no regret to have. The players did their best. We will play our luck thoroughly against Donetsk ". Rafael is of the same opinion: "We will still qualify. It's crazy to take 4 points against City and not be qualified yet. We'll have to finish the job " Anthony Lopes agrees with him: "We know that the Champions League is played on details. The last minutes of our matches have been to our disadvantage. It's up to us to turn the tide and qualify against Shakhtar. " In Ukraine or elsewhere, the goal will be the same for Lyon: validate his ticket for the next stage of the Champions League.
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