Lyon lacking local backing

By Matthew Spiro

Despite progressing to a UEFA Champions League quarter-final against PSV Eindhoven by virtue of a scintillating aggregate defeat of Werder Bremen and establishing an eleven-point lead in Ligue 1, Olympique Lyonnais have still not captured the French public's imagination.

Extraordinary victory
Paul Le Guen's team produced an irresistible display in the Round of 16, thrashing the German champions 7-2 to progress 10-2 on aggregate. Yet, as has been the case in the past, their heroics were overshadowed by events elsewhere. On this occasion it was Chelsea FC's extraordinary win against FC Barcelona that deflected attention away from the French club.

'What madness!'
Even sports daily L'Equipe did not reserve their front page entirely for Lyon the following day, running the headline 'Lyon, Chelsea, what madness!'. Television viewing figures reflected the trend, with many armchair fans utilising the option to switch from the Lyon game to the Chelsea match as soon as Michael Essien made it 5-0 on aggregate after 18 minutes.

Virtually unnoticed
It was a similar story last season. Lyon's best European performance came in November when they won 2-1 at FC Bayern München. On the same night AS Monaco FC thrashed RC Deportivo La Coruña 8-3 and Lyon's exploits went virtually unnoticed. Meanwhile, Monaco's popularity soared and the whole of France was behind Ludovic Giuly and his team-mates when they overcame Real Madrid CF and Chelsea in later rounds.

European runs
Stade de Reims, AS Saint-Etienne, Olympique de Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain FC have all earned the nation's admiration with exciting European runs in the past. But Lyon's history is not so rich - they won their first French championship in 2002 - and, for the moment at least, fans outside the Rhone Valley remain largely indifferent towards the club.

'More attention'
Juninho Pernambucano believes Lyon's image is slowly changing. "The media are giving us more attention," the Brazilian international told uefa.com. "People no longer talk exclusively about Marseille and PSG. Maybe we need to beat a Real Madrid, like Monaco did last year, to get the country on our side."

'A great test'
Last season Lyon drew FC Porto in the quarter-finals and, though the Portuguese club went on to lift the trophy, few regarded it as an exciting draw. Many will feel the same about PSV Eindhoven, conquerors of AS Monaco FC in the last round. Lyon winger Florent Malouda had set his sights on Chelsea and a tussle with his former strike partner at EA Guingamp, Didier Drogba. "For me, they're the best team in Europe right now," said the French international.

Mourinho lesson
If Lyon are to play Chelsea this season, it will have to be in the 25 May final in Istanbul, with the winners of the Lyon-PSV tie drawn to face the winner of the Milan derby in the semi-finals. Club president Jean-Michel Aulas also wants to meet the Londoners so Lyon can avenge the defeat by José Mourinho's Porto. "Monsieur Mourinho gave us a real lesson last season," said Aulas. "It would be nice to have another chance to beat one of his teams."

Greatest stage
Should Lyon succeed - on club football's greatest stage - they might finally attract the kind of nationwide clamour that has so far eluded them.