Olympique Lyonnais travel to Prague on Tuesday evening to face Sparta Prague in the first leg of the Champions League third qualifying round, kicking off at 8pm. The return leg follows the next Tuesday at the Groupama Stadium.
Lyon finished fourth in Ligue 1 last season, which means they must get past this third qualifying round and then a playoff round to reach the Champions League league phase. If they beat Sparta, they will face the winner of the tie between Fenerbahce and Sturm Graz for a place that comes with a significant financial reward.
A busy preseason
Captain Corentin Tolisso and his teammates returned to training on June 29. Young forward Remi Himbert scored a hat-trick against fifth-tier side Macon 71 in a 5-2 win, then scored three more in a 6-3 victory over Swiss club Saint-Gall. Himbert scored three goals for Lyon in the first half of last season and has established himself as a player who matters in Paulo Fonseca's squad.
Lyon then needed a tighter contest to beat Servette FC 2-1 in Bourgoin-Jallieu, with both goals coming from Tolisso. The squad then travelled to the Adidas campus in Herzogenaurach, Germany, for a training camp from July 19 to 24. They lost 0-2 to Slavia Prague there but beat Wolfsburg 2-0, with goals from Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Alejandro Gomes Rodriguez.
A 4-0 defeat to Real Betis on July 29, which exposed weaknesses defending set pieces, raised some concern. Fonseca said afterwards that the team had lacked energy and aggression, but added that results are not always positive even when they bring something positive to a team, and that the defeat would help keep the squad grounded.
Openda arrives on loan
Lyon have secured the loan of Loïs Openda, a genuine goalscorer whose arrival could change a great deal for the team. The Belgian striker is looking for redemption after a season to forget at Juventus and is expected to be the finisher Lyon have been missing. Fonseca has also welcomed back Malick Fofana, who played half an hour against Betis, a boost for an attacking line still being rebuilt.
Rebuilding around youth
Fonseca has had to start almost from scratch following the sale of Afonso Moreira, the end of Endrick's loan spell, and the departures of Adam Karebec and Roman Yaremchuk, with Pavel Sulc's exit also expected. Because Himbert cannot carry the attack alone and Ernest Nuamah is only just back from a long-term injury, Lyon brought in 20-year-olds Julien Duranville and Kail Boudache.
Enzo Molebe and Alejandro Gomes Rodriguez, both back from loan spells and having only just turned 18, also count as reinforcements after standing out in the preseason friendlies. That youth makes the signing of Openda, who is 26 and has scored around a hundred goals as a professional, all the more important in terms of experience.
Sparta Prague's recent form
Sparta Prague, runners-up in the Czech league, were also beaten heavily in mid-July, losing 5-1 to Nordsjaelland. Sparta have the advantage of having already started their domestic season, though they lost 3-1 to Brno before beating Zlin 3-1, conceding again in that match. There appears to be room for a young Lyon side, still finding its rhythm, to cause Sparta problems over the two legs.
