Dubai Telegraph - Lyon fight for return to Champions League amid off-field worries

EUR -
AED 3.839032
AFN 78.318295
ALL 98.686181
AMD 418.630098
ANG 1.881327
AOA 955.800527
ARS 1094.340711
AUD 1.653056
AWG 1.881379
AZN 1.776484
BAM 1.96609
BBD 2.10768
BDT 127.301836
BGN 1.95521
BHD 0.393966
BIF 3088.952288
BMD 1.045211
BND 1.416338
BOB 7.213608
BRL 6.192247
BSD 1.043856
BTN 90.188095
BWP 14.488773
BYN 3.416238
BYR 20486.127443
BZD 2.096843
CAD 1.497813
CDF 2974.669187
CHF 0.945842
CLF 0.037408
CLP 1032.197824
CNY 7.568896
CNH 7.571683
COP 4417.331682
CRC 526.79962
CUC 1.045211
CUP 27.69808
CVE 110.642972
CZK 25.098667
DJF 185.893259
DKK 7.460462
DOP 64.058834
DZD 140.778224
EGP 52.565522
ERN 15.678159
ETB 133.481592
FJD 2.408426
FKP 0.860822
GBP 0.842409
GEL 2.994518
GGP 0.860822
GHS 15.81495
GIP 0.860822
GMD 75.255015
GNF 9026.836922
GTQ 8.06756
GYD 218.395023
HKD 8.137283
HNL 26.57679
HRK 7.713182
HTG 136.42605
HUF 409.69429
IDR 16898.024029
ILS 3.734135
IMP 0.860822
INR 90.199058
IQD 1367.445216
IRR 43990.30736
ISK 145.880122
JEP 0.860822
JMD 164.110625
JOD 0.741576
JPY 162.260058
KES 135.187213
KGS 91.401889
KHR 4203.359256
KMF 493.745458
KPW 940.689642
KRW 1496.219752
KWD 0.321998
KYD 0.869955
KZT 543.516327
LAK 22759.531956
LBP 93480.648443
LKR 311.701834
LRD 206.696102
LSL 19.376608
LTL 3.086235
LVL 0.632237
LYD 5.137501
MAD 10.437907
MDL 19.46832
MGA 4893.717616
MKD 61.575094
MMK 3394.803205
MNT 3551.625676
MOP 8.375451
MRU 41.579439
MUR 48.455717
MVR 16.094183
MWK 1810.183838
MXN 21.211368
MYR 4.590463
MZN 66.78705
NAD 19.376422
NGN 1626.358483
NIO 38.411218
NOK 11.724064
NPR 144.300952
NZD 1.830363
OMR 0.402336
PAB 1.043861
PEN 3.882188
PGK 4.190355
PHP 61.014694
PKR 290.959273
PLN 4.213021
PYG 8254.118238
QAR 3.8054
RON 4.975724
RSD 117.116883
RUB 104.389962
RWF 1449.050156
SAR 3.920503
SBD 8.828422
SCR 14.91201
SDG 628.171368
SEK 11.452702
SGD 1.409059
SHP 0.860822
SLE 23.731231
SLL 21917.543254
SOS 596.638199
SRD 36.692093
STD 21633.748813
SVC 9.134028
SYP 13589.827995
SZL 19.384219
THB 35.214217
TJS 11.425531
TMT 3.658237
TND 3.332886
TOP 2.447983
TRY 37.312999
TTD 7.096105
TWD 34.121421
TZS 2649.608991
UAH 43.843475
UGX 3847.123903
USD 1.045211
UYU 45.68607
UZS 13549.156159
VES 58.754499
VND 26198.203283
VUV 124.089499
WST 2.927454
XAF 658.205521
XAG 0.033877
XAU 0.000376
XCD 2.824734
XDR 0.804348
XOF 658.199202
XPF 119.331742
YER 260.363701
ZAR 19.24459
ZMK 9408.155357
ZMW 29.045947
ZWL 336.557382
  • RBGPF

    61.2800

    61.28

    +100%

  • CMSC

    -0.0050

    23.485

    -0.02%

  • RELX

    0.1300

    49.39

    +0.26%

  • GSK

    0.6200

    34.05

    +1.82%

  • NGG

    0.6600

    60.71

    +1.09%

  • SCS

    0.0200

    11.6

    +0.17%

  • CMSD

    -0.0900

    23.87

    -0.38%

  • BTI

    0.4800

    37.05

    +1.3%

  • AZN

    0.4000

    68.6

    +0.58%

  • RYCEF

    0.2800

    7.55

    +3.71%

  • RIO

    0.4400

    61.56

    +0.71%

  • BP

    0.3600

    31.49

    +1.14%

  • BCC

    0.5300

    128.45

    +0.41%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    12.55

    +0.16%

  • BCE

    0.0700

    23.22

    +0.3%

  • VOD

    0.0200

    8.4

    +0.24%

Lyon fight for return to Champions League amid off-field worries
Lyon fight for return to Champions League amid off-field worries / Photo: SEBASTIEN BOZON - AFP/File

Lyon fight for return to Champions League amid off-field worries

Lyon are desperate to get back into the Champions League but their stuttering start to the new year threatens that ambition just as they face serious financial problems and their American owner finds himself making enemies with the French league.

Text size:

On the field, Pierre Sage's team took on Fenerbahce in Istanbul on Thursday in the Europa League, a competition in which they are hoping to go all the way.

Domestically, though, Lyon have won just one of their last four Ligue 1 matches and go to Nantes on Sunday having slipped down to sixth, two points outside the qualifying spots for next season's Champions League.

They also suffered a humiliating defeat in the French Cup on penalties to fifth-tier side Bourgoin-Jallieu last week, but making the Champions League for the first time since 2019/20 has always been the priority for the club that once dominated football in France.

Lyon were recently warned by the DNCG, French football's financial control body, that they would be relegated at the end of this season without drastic action to reduce debts.

Lyon are part of John Textor's Eagle Football group, which owns several other clubs including Botafogo, the Brazilian and South American champions.

The seven-time French champions' debts are such that they were also handed a transfer ban in the January window, although they have still been able to sign Argentina playmaker Thiago Almada on loan from Botafogo.

However, they are having to raise money via sales, and that risks making Lyon less competitive in a domestic environment Textor believes is unfairly dominated by Paris Saint-Germain.

Textor has voiced particular anger at the way a new, cut-price broadcast deal was negotiated by the French league last year, while also taking aim at PSG's Qatari president Nasser al-Khelaifi.

Khelaifi's network beIN Sports acquired the rights to show one live Ligue 1 match per weekend in France, with DAZN broadcasting the other games.

"Every league is dominated by a force of a team. There is always one dominant team with seemingly unlimited money, in some cases from oil states," Textor said last week in an interview with radio station RMC.

"I was completely shocked in July to be in a meeting of the presidents to discuss viable alternatives on television, and the president of the league (Vincent Labrune) who should have been running the meeting barely opened his mouth.

"Nasser sat and ran the meeting and should not have been in the meeting...and the president of our league just sat there like a lapdog, didn't say anything.

"The influence from PSG to the league needs to be looked at," he added, while also suggesting that the DNCG was under the influence of the Parisian club.

All of those parties hit back at Textor's comments, with the DNCG calling them "baseless".

Ultimately Textor's actions in reducing Lyon's debts will speak louder than his words, and the American will hope Sage's team quickly find their form again in Ligue 1.

Player to watch: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia

The Georgian winger could make his PSG debut when the leaders host Reims on Saturday. Signed from Napoli for a reported 70 million euros ($72m) a week ago, he was not part of the squad for last Saturday's win at Lens.

Kvaratskhelia is also ineligible for PSG in the league phase of the Champions League, so watched from the stands as his new team beat Manchester City on Wednesday and will again have to be a spectator when they go to Stuttgart next week.

Key stats

2 - PSG have lost just twice in 52 Ligue 1 matches since the start of last season

489 - Goalkeeper Anthony Lopes played 489 games for Lyon, putting him fifth on their list of all-time appearance makers. On Sunday he will come up against his hometown club with new side Nantes

8 - Marseille have won eight of their nine away games in Ligue 1 this season

Fixtures (times GMT)

Friday

Auxerre v Saint-Etienne (1945)

Saturday

Monaco v Rennes (1600), Strasbourg v Lille (1800), Paris Saint-Germain v Reims (2005)

Sunday

Le Havre v Brest (1400), Nantes v Lyon, Lens v Angers, Toulouse v Montpellier (1615), Nice v Marseille (1945)

A.Krishnakumar--DT