2009–10 Olympique Lyonnais season

Olympique Lyonnais

Season 2009-10
Manager	Claude Puel
Chairman	Jean-Michel Aulas
Final league position	2nd
Coupe de la Ligue	Eliminated
Coupe de France	Eliminated
UEFA Champions League	Eliminated
League Top Goalscorer	Lisandro López (15)
Season Top Goalscorer	Lisandro López (24)
Highest Home Attendance	40,327 vs Real Madrid (16 February 2010)
Lowest Home Attendance	20,010 vs Metz (13 January 2010)
$\leftarrow$ Previous season 2008–09
$\rightarrow$ Next season 2010–11

The 2009–10 season was French football club Olympique Lyonnais's 51st season in Ligue 1 and was their 21st consecutive season in the top division of French football. For the first time in seven years, Lyon entered the football season without defending the Ligue 1 title. They were overthrown by Bordeaux who claimed the title on the final day of 2008–09 season. This was also the first time in nine years Lyon had to earn qualification to the group stage of the UEFA Champions League as they began from the playoff round, due to their 3rd position finish last season.

News

On 6 June 2009, it was announced by Lyon that fitness coach Robert Duverne had quit his position to focus full-time on the France national team, who were attempting to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.^[1] Vincent Espié, who had previously worked as fitness coach for Claude Puel's former club Lille was brought in as his replacement.^[2]

Departures this summer include long time Lyonnais Juninho, who, after spending a respectable eight seasons at the club, moved to Qatari club Al-Gharafa.^[3] Defender Sandy Paillot who joined fellow Ligue 1 club Grenoble for a fee of €2m, after spending almost a year and a half on loan at the club.^[4] Also during this summer window, a host of youth players who were either deemed surplus to requirements or looking to find some significant playing time departed the club. Pierrick Valdivia, Ayan Si-Mohamed, and Alexis Carra moved to Sedan, Stade Reims, and Italian club Vicenza, respectively.^[5]^[6]^[7] Midfielder Romain Dedola and defender Morgan Ancian both joined Strasbourg, while Quentin Barlet and Jérémy Dequelson joined lesser rivals AS Lyon Duchère. Another youth player Jérémy Pied joined FC Metz on loan for the entire 2009–10 season with hopes that the player will receive some much needed playing time.

On 1 July 2009, Lyon surprisingly announced that they had reached an agreement with Spanish club Real Madrid for the transfer of Karim Benzema, who reportedly wanted to stay at least one more year with his hometown club. The transfer fee was priced at €35m with the fee rising to as much as €41m based on incentives.^[8] A day later, Lyon confirmed the departure of Ivorian winger Kader Keïta who, despite being Lyon's highest paid transfer at that time, failed to live up to expectations. Keïta moved to Turkish club Galatasaray S.K. with Lyon being paid €8.5m for the player.^[9] On 5 August, the club announced the departure of striker Frédéric Piquionne, who joined English club Portsmouth on loan for the entire season.^[10] A week later, various sources in France reported that defender John Mensah would be joining English club Sunderland on loan for the season with the club also having a option to purchase the player for a fee of €7 million following the season. The move was subject to Mensah passing a medical and being granted a work permit, which was completed by a week and a half later.^[11]

On 7 July, Lyon confirmed their first transfer arrival to the club. After almost two weeks of negotiations with Portuguese club Porto, Lyon reached an agreement on a transfer fee for the Argentine striker Lisandro López. The transfer fee was priced at €24 million with the fee rising to as much as €28 million with incentives making Lopez the club's most expensive signing.^[12] The following week, Lyon addressed an important need after reaching an agreement with Lille OSC for the transfer of the Brazilian left winger Michel Bastos with the transfer fee being approximately €18 million.^[13] Two days later, Lyon filled another need signing another Porto player in left back Aly Cissokho for €15 million. An additional incentive involved in the deal is Porto will receive 20% of any future transfer fee Lyon receives for the player.^[14] On 29 July, Lyon, who admitted they needed at least one more striker, announced the signing of French international Bafétimbi Gomis from Derby du Rhône rivals AS Saint-Étienne with the fee being approximately €13 million.^[15]

Before the summer signings, Lyon announced that two youth players would be promoted to the club's first team after agreeing to professional contracts. Defender Loïc Abenzoar and midfielder Maxime Gonalons both agreed to three-year professional contracts tying them to the club until 2012.^[16]^[17] Also, following the season, Lyon signed left back Timothée Kolodziejczak, who had been on a season long loan from Lens. Kolodziejczak agreed to a four year contract and Lyon paid Lens €2.5 million.^[18] Lyon also completed the signing of 16 year old Swiss goalkeeper Jérémy Frick, who signed a two-year deal. Frick, formerly of Servette FC, will join the club's youth academy.^[19]

Transfers

Summer In

N	P	Nat.	Name	Age	EU	Moving from	Type	Transfer window	Ends	Transfer fee	Source
46	DF	FRA	Abenzoar	20	EU	Youth system	Promoted Y	Summer	2012	Youth system	Mercato365
41	MF	FRA	Gonalons	20	EU	Youth system	Promoted Y	Summer	2012	Youth system	L'Equipe
	GK	SUI	Frick	16	Non-EU	Servette	Transferred Y	Summer	2011	Free	LyonCapitale
23	DF	BRA	Anderson	29	Non-EU	Cruzeiro	Loan Return Y	Summer	2010	N/A
24	MF	FRA	Beynié	22	EU	Tubize	Loan Return Y	Summer	2010	N/A
12	DF	FRA	Kolodziejczak	17	EU	Lens	Transferred Y	Summer	2013	€2.5M	Sports.fr
9	FW	ARG	Lisandro	26	Non-EU	Porto	Transferred Y	Summer	2014	€24M	OLWeb
7	MF	BRA	Bastos	25	Non-EU	Lille	Transferred Y	Summer	2013	€18M	OLWeb
20	DF	FRA	Cissokho	21	EU	Porto	Transferred Y	Summer	2014	€15M	OLWeb
18	FW	FRA	Gomis	23	EU	Saint-Étienne	Transferred Y	Summer	2014	€13M	OLWeb

Winter In

N	P	Nat.	Name	Age	EU	Moving from	Type	Transfer window	Ends	Transfer fee	Source
26	DF	CRO	Lovren	20	EU	Dinamo Zagreb	Transferred Y	Winter	2014	€10M	OLWeb

Total spending: €82.5 million

Summer Out

N	P	Nat.	Name	Age	EU	Moving to	Type	Transfer window	Transfer fee	Source
15	DF	FRA	Paillot	22	EU	Grenoble	Transferred Y	Summer	€2M	L'Equipe
13	MF	FRA	Valdivia	21	EU	Sedan	Contract Ended Y	Summer	Free	Ouest-France
47	MF	FRA	Dedola	20	EU	Strasbourg	Transferred Y	Summer	Free	L'Equipe
	DF	FRA	Ancian	18	EU	Strasbourg	Transferred Y	Summer	Free
	FW	FRA	Carra	19	EU	Vicenza	Transferred Y	Summer	Free	Mercato365
8	MF	BRA	Juninho	34	EU	Al Gharafa	Transferred Y	Summer	Free	L'Equipe
26	MF	BRA	Fábio Santos	28	Non-EU	Fluminense	Transferred Y	Summer	Free	MaisFutebol
10	FW	FRA	Benzema	21	EU	Real Madrid	Transferred Y	Summer	€35M	OLWeb
23	FW	CIV	Keïta	27	EU	Galatasaray	Transferred Y	Summer	€8.5M	Galatasaray
34	MF	FRA	Pied	20	EU	Metz	Loaned Y	Summer	N/A	L'Equipe
	MF	FRA	Si-Mohamed	19	EU	Reims	Transferred Y	Summer	Free	Stade Reims
	MF	FRA	Barlet	20	EU	Lyon Duchère	Transferred Y	Summer	Free	Foot-National
	DF	FRA	Dequelson	18	EU	Lyon Duchère	Transferred Y	Summer	Free
39	FW	FRA	Piquionne	30	EU	Portsmouth	Loaned Y	Summer	N/A	OLWeb
15	DF	GHA	Mensah	26	Non-EU	Sunderland	Loaned Y	Summer	N/A	Mercato365
27	MF	FRA	Mounier	21	EU	Nice	Transferred Y	Summer	€2.5M	L'Equipe
11	DF	ITA	Grosso	31	EU	Juventus	Transferred Y	Summer	€2M	L'Equipe

Winter Out

N	P	Nat.	Name	Age	EU	Moving to	Type	Transfer window	Transfer fee	Source
24	MF	FRA	Beynié	22	EU	Gueugnon	Transferred Y	Winter	Undisclosed	OLWeb.fr

Total income: €50 million

Squad information

Last updated 15 May 2010

N	P	Nat.	Name	Age	EU	Since	App	Goals	Ends	Transfer fee
1	GK	FRA	Lloris	25	EU	2008	97	0	2013	€8.5M
2	DF	FRA	Clerc	28	EU	2002	111	1	2010	Youth system
3	DF	BRA	Cris (captain)	34	EU	2004	243	21	2011	€3.5M
4	DF	FRA	Boumsong	32	EU	2008 (Winter)	89	4	2011	€3M
5	MF	FRA	Bodmer	29	EU	2007	88	8	2011	€6.5M
6	MF	SWE	Källström	29	EU	2006	181	17	2012	€8M
7	MF	BRA	Bastos	28	Non-EU	2009	47	15	2013	€18M
8	MF	BIH	Pjanić	21	EU	2008	76	11	2013	€8M
9	FW	ARG	Lisandro	29	Non-EU	2009	50	24	2014	€24M
10	MF	BRA	Ederson	26	Non-EU	2008	83	7	2013	€15M
12	DF	FRA	Kolodziejczak	20	EU	2008	4	0	2013	€2.25M
13	DF	FRA	Réveillère	32	EU	2003	245	6	2011	Free
14	FW	FRA	Govou	32	EU	1999	360	58	2010	Youth system
17	MF	CMR	Makoun	28	EU	2008	87	11	2012	€14M
18	FW	FRA	Gomis	26	EU	2009	50	16	2014	€13M
19	MF	ARG	Delgado	30	Non-EU	2008 (Winter)	78	8	2011	€11M
20	DF	FRA	Cissokho	24	EU	2009	48	1	2014	€15M
22	MF	FRA	Grenier	21	EU	2008	3	0	2011	Youth system
23	DF	BRA	Anderson	31	Non-EU	2007	15	1	2010	€3M
25	GK	FRA	Hartock	25	EU	2007	0	0	2010	Youth system
26	DF	CRO	Lovren	22	EU	2010 (Winter)	10	0	2014	€10M
28	MF	FRA	Toulalan (VC)	28	EU	2006	170	1	2013	€7M
29	FW	FRA	Tafer	21	EU	2008	14	1	2011	Youth system
30	GK	FRA	Vercoutre	31	EU	2002	51	0	2012	Free
31	MF	FRA	Mehamha	21	EU	2008	0	0	2011	Youth system
32	DF	FRA	Gassama	22	EU	2008	19	0	2011	Youth system
34	MF	FRA	Reale	20	EU	2009	0	0	Undisclosed	Youth system
35	DF	FRA	Seguin	22	EU	2009	0	0	2010	Youth system
36	DF	FRA	Faure	21	EU	2008	1	0	2010	Youth system
37	DF	FRA	Fontaine	20	EU	2008	0	0	2010	Youth system
38	FW	FRA	Lacazette	20	EU	2009	1	0	Undisclosed	Youth system
39	FW	FRA	Belfodil	20	EU	2009	4	0	2011	Youth system
40	GK	FRA	Lopes	22	EU	2009	0	0	Undisclosed	Youth system
41	MF	FRA	Gonalons	23	EU	2009	27	2	2014	Youth system
44	DF	SEN	N'Diaye	20	EU	2009	0	0	Undisclosed	Youth system
46	DF	FRA	Abenzoar	23	EU	2009	0	0	2012	Youth system

Last updated: 15 May
Source: Olympique Lyonnais, ESPN.com and Transfermarkt.co.uk

Team kit

Umbro will manufacture the kits for Olympique Lyonnais. Umbro have been the official kit provider of Lyon since 2003 and, two years ago, signed an extension with Lyon until 2013.^[20] This season, Lyon will have brand-new home, away, Champions League kits, which were revealed to the public on 12 July, despite the shirts leaking on 17 June. The home shirt has a white base color, with the horizontal red and blue stripe in the middle, reverting from the club's red and blue vertical stripe that has been used in previous years. The logo of Umbro appears on the top-right of the shirt in blue.^[21] The away shirt features a black and red design. The top part of the shirt is black and it fades horizontally in the middle into red. The shirt has a partly red collar, and also has red details on the black sleeves.^[22] The European kit is midnight blue with the horizontal red and blue stripe locating in the middle of the shirt.^[23]

Home

Away

Euro

Goalkeeper Home Kit

Goalkeeper Away Kit

Goalkeeper Third Kit

Club

Coaching staff

Position	Staff
Manager	Claude Puel
Assistant manager	Patrick Collot
Assistant manager	Bruno Genesio
First team coach	Christophe Toni
Technical coach	Remi Garde
Striker coach	Sonny Anderson
Goalkeeper coach	Joël Bats
Team doctor	Emmanuel Ohrant
Physiotherapist	Sylvain Rousseau
Physiotherapist	Patrick Perret
Physiotherapist	Abdeljelil Redissi
Fitness coach	Vincent Espié
Intendant	Guy Genet
Intendant	Jérôme Renaud

Last updated: 27 July
Source: OLweb.fr

Other information

Chairman	Jean-Michel Aulas
Special Advisor	Bernard Lacombe
Club Director	Olivier Blanc
Sporting Director	Marino Faccioli
Club Ambassador	Sonny Anderson
Ground (capacity and dimensions)	Stade de Gerland (41,044 / 112x65 meters)

Last updated: 8 June
Source: OLweb.fr

Pre-season

Lyon opened their pre-season in their usual setting training in the mountainess Rhône-Alpes commune of Tignes. Lyon confirmed several preseason friendly matches. Lyon also participated in the Peace Cup for the fourth time having won the exhibition tournament in 2007. On 11 July, Lyon opened up their pre-season facing fellow Ligue 1 club Nice in Albertville. Lyon won the match 1–0 with the lone goal of the match coming from Ederson in the 12th minute of play.

A week later, Lyon hosted Lens in Arnas. Lyon trailed 0–2 heading into the 80th minute with both of Lens goals being scored as a result of Lyon mistakes. The first goal being scored due to an unexpected turnover by Sidney Govou and the second being scored as a result of casual, yet lazy play between defensemen Jean-Alain Boumsong and Timothée Kolodziejczak, with the former being more responsible. Fortunately, Lyon completed the comeback with both of their goals being scored by the Swede Kim Källström, the first being a free kick in the 85th minute and the second in the 89th minute to draw the match at 2–2, which was the final scoreline.

From 24 July to 2 August, Lyon will be among several top clubs that will participate in the 2009 Peace Cup held in Andalusia, Spain. Clubs playing in their group and whom they will face are defending Portuguese Liga champions FC Porto and 2008–09 Süper Lig champions Beşiktaş, whom they played first.^[24] Lyon controlled the match for the majority of and eventually got a goal in the 69th minute from Kim Källström after a nice backheel assist from Miralem Pjanić. Leading 1–0 heading into the final minutes, Lyon's defense fell off, with Beşiktaş's first chance being cleared off the line by Pjanić leading to a corner. On the ensuing corner, the Turkish club equalised with the goal coming off the head of Mert Nobre in the 84th minute. That would be the eventual scoreline giving both clubs one point heading into their matches with Porto.^[25] In the match, Lyon suffered their first defeat of the season losing 0–2 with both of Porto's goals being scored by the Brazilian Hulk eliminating Lyon from the Peace Cup and also ending their preseason with 11 days to spare ahead of their opening league match against Le Mans.^[26]

However, on 28 July, Lyon announced that on 30 July, they will play La Liga club Sevilla, who were also eliminated from the Peace Cup, in a friendly match at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán. They later announced, upon the club's return to France, they will face another La Liga side in Deportivo La Coruña in Aix-les-Bains.^[27] In the Sevilla match, despite the debut of Lisandro López and boasting an almost full strength side, Lyon failed to get on the scoreboard losing 0–1 making the defeat their second straight loss in the preseason. Three days later, Lyon earned a positive result drawing 2–2 with Deportivo with both of their goals coming from new players Bafétimbi Gomis and Lisandro López. Lyon ended the preseason with a record of 1 win, 3 draws, and 2 defeats.

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result	Scorers	Attendance	Match Type
11 July 2009	Nice	H	1 – 0	Ederson 12'	3,000	Friendly
18 July 2009	Lens	H	2 – 2	Källström 85', 89'	4,000	Friendly
25 July 2009	Beşiktaş	N	1 – 1	Källström 69'	300	2009 Peace Cup
27 July 2009	Porto	N	0 – 2			2009 Peace Cup
29 July 2009	Sevilla	A	0 – 1			Friendly
2 August 2009	Deportivo de La Coruña	H	2 – 2	Gomis 50', Lisandro 74'		Friendly
6 January 2010	Club Africain	A	1 – 1	Gomis 28'		Friendly

Competitions

Competition	Started round	Current position / round	Final position / round	First match	Last match
Ligue 1	—	2nd	2nd	8 August	15 May
UEFA Champions League	Playoff Round	Semi-finals	Semi-finals	19 August	27 April
Coupe de la Ligue	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Quarterfinals	12 January	27 January
Coupe de France	Round of 64	Round of 32	Round of 32	9 January	24 January

Last updated: 15 May 2010
Source: Competitions

Ligue 1

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Marseille	38	23	9	6	69	36	+33	78	2010–11 UEFA Champions League Group stage
2	Lyon	38	20	12	6	64	38	+26	72	2010–11 UEFA Champions League Group stage
3	Auxerre	38	20	11	7	42	29	+13	71	2010–11 UEFA Champions League Play-off round
4	Lille	38	21	7	10	72	40	+32	70	2010–11 UEFA Europa League Play-off round
5	Montpellier	38	20	9	9	50	40	+10	69	2010–11 UEFA Europa League Third qualifying round ¹

Updated to games played on 15 May 2010
Source: Standings
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
38	20	12	6	62	37	+25	72	12	4	3	30	16	+14	8	8	3	32	21	+11

Source: lfp.fr

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38
Ground	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H
Result	D	W	W	W	W	D	W	W	L	L	W	D	D	D	L	L	W	D	L	W	W	W	D	W	W	W	D	D	L	W	W	D	D	W	W	W	D	W
Position	10	8	2	3	2	2	2	1	1	3	2	2	3	2	4	9	4	4	6	5	5	4	4	4	4	3	3	5	6	5	1	3	3	3	4	4	4	2

Source: lfp.fr
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Lose; W = Win; P = Postponed.

Date^[36]	Opponents	H / A	Result	Lyon Scorers	Attendance	Position	Referee
2009
8 August	Le Mans	A	2 – 2	Bodmer 28', Lisandro 90'	10,391	10th	Lionel Jaffredo
15 August	Valenciennes	H	1 – 0	Gomis 37'	31,745	8th	Hervé Piccirillo
22 August	Auxerre	A	3 – 0	Boumsong 30', Makoun 45', Pjanić 65'	15,294	2nd	Stéphane Bre
29 August	Nancy	H	3 – 1	Gomis 37', Lisandro 50', Bastos 68'	34,193	3rd	Saïd Ennjimi
12 September	Lorient	H	1 – 0	Bastos 72'	36,600	2nd	Pascal Vileo
19 September	PSG	A	1 – 1	Gomis 85'	44,778	2nd	Fredy Fautrel
26 September	Toulouse	H	2 – 1	Tafer 52', Gomis 71'	34,031	2nd	Bruno Coue
3 October	Lens	A	2 – 0	Govou 6', Källström 78'	39,423	1st	Laurent Duhamel
17 October	Sochaux	H	0 – 2		36,489	1st	Olivier Thual
24 October	Nice	A	1 – 4	Ederson 84'	10,793	3rd	Lionel Jaffredo
31 October	Saint-Étienne	A	1 – 0	Gomis 83'	34,342	2nd	Tony Chapron
8 November	Marseille	H	5 – 5	Pjanić 4', Govou 14', Lisandro 81', 84', Bastos 90'	38,018	2nd	Stéphane Bré
21 November	Grenoble	A	1 – 1	Delgado 65'	15,563	3rd	Clément Turpin
28 November	Rennes	H	1 – 1	Lisandro 42'	35,978	2nd	Phillipe Malige
5 December	Lille	A	3 – 4	Lisandro 2', 22', 35'	14,206	4th	Fredy Fautrel
13 December	Bordeaux	H	0 – 1		36,887	9th	Stéphane Lannoy
16 December	Boulogne	H	2 – 0	Pjanić 72', Delgado 90'	37,512	4th	Sébastien Moreira
20 December	Monaco	A	1 – 1	Bastos 22'	10,620	4th	Stéphane Bré
23 December	Montpellier	H	1 – 2	Gomis 83'	37,963	6th	Laurent Duhamel
2010
16 January	Nancy	A	2 – 0	Cris 79', Gonalons 87'	16,097	5th	Hervé Piccirillo
20 January	Lorient	A	3 – 1	Lisandro 62', Källström 69', 87'	15,790	5th	Stéphane Lannoy
30 January	PSG	H	2 – 1	Gomis 77', Cris 81'	35,157	4th	Philippe Kalt
6 February	Toulouse	A	0 – 0		21,218	4th	Antony Gautier
13 February	Lens	H	1 – 0	Delgado 78'	33,239	4th	Bruno Coue
20 February	Sochaux	A	4 – 0	Bastos 5', 24', 26', Lisandro 81'	14,768	4th	Ruddy Buquet
27 February	Nice	H	2 – 0	Lisandro 9', Apam 90' (o.g.)	33,593	3rd	Christian Guillard
6 March	Boulogne	A	0 – 0		12,358	3rd	Damien Ledentu
13 March	Saint-Étienne	H	1 – 1	Lisandro 79'	36,199	5th	Lionel Jaffredo
20 March	Marseille	A	1 – 2	Gomis 80'	52,557	6th	Fredy Fautrel
28 March	Grenoble	H	2 – 0	Bastos 48', Delgado 90'	32,323	5th	Sébastien Moreira
3 April	Rennes	A	2 – 1	Bastos 52', Lisandro 61'	28,244	1st	Olivier Thual
10 April	Lille	H	1 – 1	Cris 71'	38,593	3rd	Philippe Kalt
17 April	Bordeaux	A	2 – 2	Ederson 54', Cris 71'	32,284	3rd	Saïd Ennjimi
2 May	Montpellier	A	1 – 0	Bastos 72'		4th	Antony Gautier
5 May	Auxerre	H	2 – 1	Lisandro 45' (pen.), Pjanić 85'		4th	Olivier Thual
8 May	Valenciennes	A	2 – 2	Källström 17', Baldé 90' (o.g.)		4th	Stéphane Bré
12 May	Monaco	H	3 – 0	Pjanić 28', Gomis 47', Lisandro 87'		3rd	Stéphane Lannoy
15 May	Le Mans	H	2 – 0	Gomis 45', Pjanić 68'		2nd	Clément Turpin

UEFA Champions League

See also: UEFA Champions League 2009–10

Playoff Round

Lyon entered the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League for the 10th straight season. However, for the first time, they had to qualify in order to reach the group stage as they entered through the playoff round, due to their 3rd position finish last season. Clubs Lyon could have possibly encountered in the playoff round included Italian club Fiorentina, Spanish side Atlético Madrid and Scottish club Celtic. The draw was determined on 7 August and Lyon were given Belgian club RSC Anderlecht as opponents. The first leg was played on 19 August at the Stade Gerland, while the second leg was played a week later at Constant Vanden Stock Stadium in Anderlecht. The winner entered the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance	Referee
19 August	Playoff round First leg	Anderlecht	H	5 – 1	Pjanić 10', Lisandro 15' (pen.), Bastos 39', Gomis 42', 63'	37,902	Wolfgang Stark
25 August	Playoff round Second leg	Anderlecht	A	3 – 1	Lisandro 26', 32', 41'	16,096	Nicola Rizzoli

In the opening leg, Lyon, at the onset, quickly forced a strong attacking pace into the game catching an unexpected Belgian side off guard. In just the 8th minute, Lyon were awarded a free kick and it was easily converted by Miralem Pjanić, his first ever goal with the club. The home side continued their attack forcing the Belgians to hold off their attack and focus more on defending. Despite Anderlecht's intent, in the 14th minute, Lyon were awarded a penalty by referee Wolfgang Stark after Lisandro López, on a breakaway, was taken down in the box by Anderlecht goalkeeper Silvio Proto. Having won the penalty, López stepped up to take it and converted giving Lyon a 2–0 lead in just 15 minutes of play. Throughout the first half, Lyon continued to control the match, at one point, having 65% of the possession. Their continued attack paid off with an amazing left-footed rocket shot from Michel Bastos in the 39th minute. Just three minutes later, Lyon converted again through Bafétimbi Gomis on an easy shot just in front of goal following a nice pass from López. The goal gave Lyon a 4–0 heading into the halftime. Lyon came out for the second half in completely opposite fashion compared to the first. This allowed Anderlecht to finally get some play on the ball. Just 14 minutes into the second half, Anderlecht got their first goal from the Argentine Matías Suárez, who beat both Mathieu Bodmer and Hugo Lloris to the ball and eventually pushed it into the back of the net. However, just 5 minutes later, Lyon would regain their four goal lead with Gomis scoring his second of the match following the Belgian goalkeeper Proto's mistake of leaving his net open by attempting to beat the Frenchman to a passing ball from Michel Bastos. Despite numerous chances from substitute César Delgado, Lyon could not add to their defining lead and headed to Brussels with a 5–1 aggregate lead.

In the second leg, Lyon decided to preserve their 5–1 aggregate lead by keeping the pace of the match slow, as well as holding possession as much as possible in order to keep Anderlecht, who were now playing at home, from getting an early goal. Eventually, this strategy paid off resulting in a goal from Lisandro following a rash mistake from an Anderlecht defender who, upon receiving the ball from the goalkeeper, made a pass directly into the path of the Argentine who rightfully intercepted it and easily chipped the ball over the unexpected goalkeeper to give Lyon a 1–0 lead and effectively end Anderlecht's chances. Six minutes later, Lisandro scored again, this time due to a great cross from Anthony Réveillère, who found the striker wide open inside the penalty box. Minutes before halftime, Lisandro scored his first career hat trick for the club in just his 4th match with them, converting the goal following a turnover from the Anderlecht midfielder Jan Polák. In the second half, Anderlecht converted from the penalty spot in the 51st minute and the 3–1 scoreline eventually remained until the end of the match. The victory allowed Lyon to advance to the group stages on an aggregate score of 8–2.

Group stage

The draw for the group stage of the Champions League was determined on 27 August 2009. Due to Arsenal's victory over Celtic in the third qualifying round, Lyon were inserted into Pot 2. Following the draw, Lyon were inserted into Group E with English club Liverpool from Pot 1, Italian side Fiorentina from Pot 3, and Hungarian club Debreceni VSC from Pot 4. Lyon have, previously, never faced Liverpool nor Debreceni in the Champions League, with the latter making their debut in the competition. However, Lyon have faced Fiorentina, whom they contested two matches against during last year's group stage. The first match, played at the Stade Gerland finished 2–2 in controversial fashion, while the second match away to Fiorentina was won by Lyon 2–1.

Lyon started their Champions League campaign with a 1–0 victory over Fiorentina. Fiorentina, who played most of the match with 10 men, due to a red card being given to Alberto Gilardino held on to a 0–0 draw until the 76th minute when the Bosnian midfielder Miralem Pjanić scored the opening goal and winning goal. The following match day, the club faced minnows Debreceni VSC and came out with a 4–0. In the match, Lyon dominated the first half scoring three of their four goals in the first 25 minutes with Kim Källström, Pjanić, and Sidney Govou getting on the scoresheet. Bafétimbi Gomis capped the night scoring the final goal in the second half.

On 20 October Lyon began their back-to-back matches against Liverpool with the first match being played at the historic Anfield. Despite Lyon attacking early on, it was Liverpool who got scored first with Yossi Benayoun converting. In the 33rd minute, Lyon's lone healthy centre back Cris suffered a concussion and was taken off the field before half-time, despite an attempt to continue playing. He was replaced by defensive midfielder Maxime Gonalons. Due to this, Lyon employed a more defensive style earlier in the second half, but eventually garnered enough confidence to get forward and in the 72nd minute, it paid off. Following a corner kick from Källström, Lyon got two chances at goal from Jérémy Toulalan and Jean Makoun before the ball was headed in by the substitute Gonalons. The goal drew the match at 1–1 and Lyon later won the match in injury time with the Argentine César Delgado scoring the game-winning goal. The victory was Lyon's first victory over an English club in the Champions League. In the return leg, Lyon managed a 1–1 draw, primarily due to the efforts of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris who performed admirably producing sharp stops from Fernando Torres, Dirk Kuyt, and Andriy Voronin in the first half, then displaying stunning reflexes to deny the Brazilian Lucas Leiva midway through the second period. Though Lyon conceded late following an amazing goal from Ryan Babel, they drew the match 1–1 with a goal from Lisandro López in injury time.^[37] The point brought Lyon's total tally to 10 and assured the club a spot in the knockout stage.

Lyon's effort to go into the knockout stage in first place were put into danger following their 0–1 defeat to Fiorentina at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence. Lyon contested the match missing several key players, notably starters Jérémy Toulalan and Anthony Réveillère. Despite out-shooting and holding 57% of the possession, Lyon failed to get on the score-sheet and conceded from the penalty spot after referee Olegário Benquerença ruled that Aly Cissokho had committed a foul on Marco Marchionni inside of the box. The penalty was converted sublimely by Juan Manuel Vargas. The loss moved Fiorentina into the first place and ultimately the battle for top spot in the group was decided on the final day. Lyon faced Debrecen and like the first match, Lyon attacked early and by the end of the first half led 2–0 with goals from Bastos and Gomis. In the second half, Lyon increased their performance getting a free kick goal from Pjanić and also one from Cissokho, which was his first professional goal. During the final minutes of the match, Lyon's support was high and ecstatic, mainly due to the Liverpool–Fiorentina match being drawn at that point, their hearts were broken following a goal from Alberto Gilardino in injury time to give Fiorentina a 2–1 victory and top spot in the group. The 4–0 thrashing of Debrecen was deemed futile.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Fiorentina	6	5	0	1	14	7	+7	15
Lyon	6	4	1	1	12	3	+9	13
Liverpool	6	2	1	3	5	7	−2	7
Debrecen	6	0	0	6	5	19	−14	0

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6
Ground	H	A	A	H	A	H
Result	W	W	W	D	L	W

Source: uefa.com
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Lose; W = Win; P = Postponed.

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result	Scorers	Attendance	Group Position	Referee
16 September	Fiorentina	H	1 – 0	Pjanić 76'	37,169	2nd	Pieter Vink
29 September	Debrecen	A	4 – 0	Källström 3', Pjanić 13', Govou 24', Gomis 51'	42,500	1st	Tom Henning Øvrebø
20 October	Liverpool	A	2 – 1	Gonalons 72', Delgado 90'	41,562	1st	Alberto Mallenco
4 November	Liverpool	H	1 – 1	Lisandro 90'	39,180	1st	Frank De Bleeckere
24 November	Fiorentina	A	0 – 1		34,301	2nd	Olegário Benquerença
9 December	Debrecen	H	4 – 0	Gomis 24', Bastos 44', Pjanić 59', Cissokho 76'	36,884	2nd	Florian Meyer

First Knockout Round

For the seventh straight season, Lyon reached the first knockout round. Due to finishing second, Lyon faced the danger of being paired with several big clubs that finished first in other groups. Notable clubs Lyon could have been paired with include Barcelona, Manchester United, Chelsea, and Arsenal to name a few. Following the draw, held on 18 December 2009, Lyon indeed received a tough draw being given La Liga side Real Madrid. The draw meant that former Lyon player Karim Benzema returned to the Stade de Gerland after leaving the club only six months prior. This was the second straight season Lyon faced a Spanish club in the first knockout round having lost 3–6 on aggregate to Barcelona in last season's competition. The first leg was played at the Gerland on 16 February 2010, while the second leg was held at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu on 10 March.

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance	Referee
16 February 2010	First knockout round First leg	Real Madrid	H	1 – 0	Makoun 47'	40,327	Martin Atkinson
10 March 2010	First knockout round Second leg	Real Madrid	A	1 – 1	Pjanić 75'	80,354	Nicola Rizzoli

Quarter-finals

Following their successful 2–1 aggregate victory over Real Madrid, Lyon were inserted into the quarterfinals. The draw was conducted on 19 March and Lyon were drawn to face Ligue 1 rivals and fellow French club Bordeaux. On 30 March 2010, Lyon faced Bordeaux at the Stade de Gerland in the first leg of the competition. Lyon got on the scoreboard early through a goal through Lisandro López following a blunder from Bordeaux defender Michaël Ciani, which allowed Mathieu Bodmer to recover the ball inside the box and find Lisandro in front of goal. Undeterred, Bordeaux quickly leveled with a vital away goal from striker Marouane Chamakh after great service from Yoann Gourcuff. In the 32nd minute, Lyon again took the lead with Michel Bastos scoring following another Bordeaux error, this time from Benoit Tremoulinas who misplayed a Lyon cross, which allowed the ball to land at the feet of Bastos who proceeded to blast a shot past goalkeeper Cédric Carrasso. Midway through the second half, Laurent Blanc's team rallied with the Brazilian Wendel drilling a shot on goal, which went by Hugo Lloris, but went directly off the post. Minutes later, Lyon were awarded a penalty courtesy of a Matthieu Chalmé handball. The penalty was converted by Lisandro to give Lyon a 3–1 lead and the Argentine was later carded in the final minutes of the match, which resulted in him missing the second leg. The 3–1 scoreline remained ensuring Lyon a wonderful opportunity to reach their first ever UEFA Champions League semi-final.

In the second leg in Bordeaux, Claude Puel opted for a more defensive formation starting Maxime Gonalons ahead of the attack-minded Miralem Pjanić. The strategy was successful during the early stages but turned sour following an accurate shot from midfielder Alou Diarra, which again beat Lloris, but, for the second straight match, hit the post in the 43rd minute. Two minutes later, just before halftime, Bordeaux drew within one goal following a conversion from Chamakh. In the second half, Puel remained confident in defense opting to substitute out attacker and lone striker Bafétimbi Gomis in order to clog the midfield. In the final stages of the match, Bordeaux were near the game-winning goal following a header attempt by Wendel, but their hopes were spoiled following an amazing save from Lloris. Though Bordeaux were successful in attaining a victory, the 3–2 aggregate scoreline was in Lyon's favor allowing the club to advance to their first-ever UEFA Champion's League semi-final.

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance	Referee
30 March 2010	Quarterfinals First leg	Bordeaux	H	3 – 1	Lisandro 11', 77' (pen.), Bastos 32'	38,750	Felix Brych
7 April 2010	Quarterfinals Second leg	Bordeaux	A	0 – 1			Alberto Mallenco

Semi-finals

Lyon will be making their first-ever UEFA Champions League semi-final appearance following their 3–2 aggregate victory over French rivals Bordeaux. Following the quarter-final draw, the winner of the match were pitted to either face English club Manchester United or German club Bayern Munich. On 7 April 2010, Bayern Munich lost to Manchester United 3–2 at Old Trafford, but their 2–1 result in the previous leg in Munich allowed Bayern to advance to the semi-finals to face Lyon on the away goals rule.

Lyon and Bayern Munich have met recently. During the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League, the two clubs were inserted into the same group for the group stage phase of the competition. In the first match, played at the Allianz Arena, the clubs drew 1–1 with Martin Demichelis converting an own goal for Lyon and Zé Roberto equalising for Bayern early in the second half. In the second match in Lyon, Bayern defeated Lyon 3–2 with Frenchman Franck Ribéry being particularly instrumental in the victory assisting on two goals and also scoring one.

Date	Round	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers	Attendance	Referee
21 April 2010	Semi-finals First leg	Bayern Munich	A	0 – 1			Roberto Rosetti
27 April 2010	Semi-finals Second leg	Bayern Munich	H	0 – 3			Massimo Busacca

Coupe de la Ligue

Date	Round	Opponents	H/A	Result	Scorers	Attendance	Referee
13 January 2010	Round of 16	Metz	H	3 – 0	Toulalan 30', Lisandro 87', 89'	20,010	Damien Ledentu
26 January 2010	Quarterfinals	Lorient	A	0 – 1		16,758	Olivier Thual

Coupe de France

Date	Round	Opponents	H/A	Result	Scorers	Attendance	Referee
9 January 2010	Round of 64	Strasbourg	A	3 – 1	Gomis 11', Bastos 14', 72'	11,000	Lionel Jaffredo
23 January 2010	Round of 32	Monaco	A	1 – 2	Boumsong 44'	4,818	Phillipe Malige

Start formations

Qnt	Formation	Match(es)
36	4-3-3	L1 (24), UCL (9), CDF (1), CDL (2)
17	4-2-3-1	L1 (12), UCL (4), CDF (1)
3	4-4-2	L1 (2), UCL (1)

Last updated: 15 May
Source: Match reports in Competitive matches
Only competitive matches.

Starting 11

Lineup that started in the club's league match
against Le Mans on 15 May.

No.	Pos	Nat	Name	GS
1	GK	FRA	Lloris	52
13	LB	FRA	Réveillère	46
3	CB	BRA	Cris	47
28	CB	FRA	Toulalan	43
20	LB	FRA	Cissokho	46
17	CM	CMR	Makoun	36
8	CM	BIH	Pjanić	38
6	CM	SWE	Källström	38
14	RW	FRA	Govou	32
9	LW	ARG	Lisandro	39
18	FW	FRA	Gomis	31

Lloris

Réveillère

Cris

Toulalan

Cissokho

Makoun

Pjanić

Källström

Govou

Lisandro

Gomis

Last updated: 15 May
Source: Squad stats and Start formations.
Only competitive matches.
Using the most used start formation.
Ordered by position on pitch (from back right to front left).

Squad stats

Appearances and goals

Last updated on 15 May 2010.

No.	Nat	Pos	Player	Total		Ligue 1		Champions League		Coupe de la Ligue		Coupe de France
No.	Nat	Pos	Player	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1		GK	Hugo Lloris	52	0	36	0	14	0	0	0	2	0
2		DF	François Clerc	8	0	7	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
3		DF	Cris	50	4	34	4	14	0	1	0	1	0
4		DF	Jean-Alain Boumsong	29	2	19	1	6	0	2	0	2	1
5		MF	Mathieu Bodmer	18	1	13	1	4	0	0	0	1	0
6		MF	Kim Källström	47	5	32	4	13	1	0	0	2	0
7		MF	Michel Bastos	47	15	32	10	11	3	2	0	2	2
8		MF	Miralem Pjanić	53	11	37	6	14	5	2	0	0	0
9		FW	Lisandro López	50	24	34	15	12	7	2	2	2	0
10		MF	Ederson	37	2	24	2	10	0	1	0	2	0
12		DF	Timothée Kolodziejczak	3	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
13		DF	Anthony Réveillère	47	0	30	0	13	0	2	0	2	0
14		FW	Sidney Govou	43	3	30	2	11	1	1	0	1	0
17		MF	Jean Makoun	40	2	28	1	12	1	0	0	0	0
18		FW	Bafétimbi Gomis	50	16	37	10	9	5	2	0	2	1
19		FW	César Delgado	44	5	27	4	13	1	2	0	2	0
20		DF	Aly Cissokho	48	1	31	0	14	1	2	0	1	0
22		MF	Clément Grenier	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
23		DF	Anderson	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
25		GK	Joan Hartock	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
26		DF	Dejan Lovren	10	0	8	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
28		MF	Jérémy Toulalan	45	1	31	0	11	0	2	1	1	0
29		FW	Yannis Tafer	11	1	7	1	0	0	2	0	2	0
30		GK	Rémy Vercoutre	4	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
31		MF	Saïd Mehamha	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
32		DF	Lamine Gassama	9	0	6	0	2	0	0	0	1	0
34		MF	Enzo Reale	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
35		DF	Nicolas Seguin	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
36		DF	Sébastien Faure	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
37		DF	Thomas Fontaine	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
38		FW	Alexandre Lacazette	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
39		FW	Ishak Belfodil	4	0	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
40		GK	Anthony Lopes	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
41		MF	Maxime Gonalons	27	2	15	1	9	1	2	0	1	0
44		DF	Ousmane N'Diaye	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
46		DF	Loïc Abenzoar	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Players sold after the start of the season:
11		DF	Fabio Grosso	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
24		MF	Romain Beynié	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
27		FW	Anthony Mounier	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Other statistics