Cris to remain the pride of Lyon

Olympique Lyonnais have arrived in the Korea Republic with the welcome news that defender Cris has agreed to extend his contract with the French champions until June 2011.

Much success
The 30-year-old's existing deal had three years left to run but both club and player were keen to continue a relationship that has led to much such success since Cris's arrival in August 2004. The centre-back moved to France from Cruzeiro EC in his homeland but actually began his career with Corinthians FC before a brief loan spell at Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the 2002/03 campaign.

Several staying
Cris, with ten goals in 101 league games for Lyon, is the latest big name to commit his future to the Stade de Gerland club, with Juninho Pernambucano, Anthony Réveillère and Grégory Coupet all renewing this summer. There have been departures, however, most notably Eric Abidal, Tiago and Florent Malouda to FC Barcelona, Juventus and Chelsea FC respectively although the arrivals include Fabio Grosso, Nadir Belhadj, Mathieu Bodmer and Kader Keita.

Key injury
While Cris has travelled with team-mates old and new to Korea, Juninho is missing after the Brazilian playmaker pulled a hamstring in training. However, recently installed coach Alain Perrin is expecting his captain to be fit for the French Super Cup at home against cup winners FC Sochaux-Montbéliard on 24 July. For now, though, all thoughts are on the task at hand in Korea and the eight-team Peace Cup friendly tournament with Lyon in a group boasting Shimizu S-Pulse, Reading FC and CA River Plate.

'Winning habit'
Lyon will certainly not take the trip lightly, and the man who replaced Gérard Houllier at the helm this summer is targeting a place in the 21 July final. "We play all our games to win, including the Peace Cup," said Perrin. "I want my squad to have the winning habit. Moreover, if we don't reach the final we would have a problem with regard to the number of games behind us before the league starts." Lyon begin their pursuit of a seventh straight championship on 4 August and, with Cris and Co on board again, few would bet against them.