The first half of the season turned out to be disastrous for Lyon not a single victory in the first 10 rounds of the French championship. As a result, the club found itself at the bottom of the Ligue 1 table. Under Fabio Grosso’s guidance, the Lions secured only one win. The management decided to dismiss yet another coach. The Italian’s interim position was taken by Pierre Sage. Gradually, the Lyon team is coming back to life. In February, the team won five matches in a row. Victories are hard-fought in all five cases, Lyon had an advantage over the opponent by just one goal. The first strong opponent in the French Cup appeared in the previous round of the competition. The Olympians defeated Lille (2-1). Over the weekend, in the French championship, the Lions beat Metz with the same score.
The team from the city of Strasbourg approaches the upcoming confrontation with four consecutive losses in the French championship. Strasbourg’s lead over the relegation zone is currently only 3 points. Over the weekend, the team suffered a home defeat to Brest (0-3), with Mahdi Camara scoring a hat-trick. As for the French Cup, Strasbourg was fortunate with the draw. Patrick Vieira’s wards successively defeated Pontarlier (0-3), Clermont (1-3), and Le Havre (3-1). As we can see, there were representatives of the top division among their opponents, but in the Ligue 1 standings, they are below Strasbourg, so the favorite had no particular problems.
