18.09.2007 15:57
Lyon arrive in form
Sergi Nogueras
After losing two of their first three games in Ligue 1, Olympique Lyonnais have put together a run of four consecutive victories to push themselves back towards the top of the French table and they travel to Camp Nou in fine form.
In the opening seven games of the French season, Alain Perrin's side have recorded five wins and
two defeats. Those two reverses came in back-to-back encounters against Toulouse and Lorient in
weeks two and three of the campaign. Since then, the team has chalked up four victories, with the
last coming at the weekend when Metz were swept aside as Lyon won 5-1. Perin's side are not second
in the table and are hot on the heels of the leaders as they look to win their seventh straight
league title.
All change
Perrin took as the coach of Lyon at the end of last season and has spent the summer
rebuilding the squad after several key players were sold. Éric Abidal, Florent Malouda and Tiago
all left the club, while Fabio Grosso, Cléber Anderson and Nadir Belhadj came in.
Key players
With Cris nursing an injury, Lyon's key players for the game against FC
Barcelona lie in midfield where Kim Källström and Toulalan work alongside the team leader, Juninho
Pernambucano. The Brazilian poses a danger from all over the pitch, but is especially deadly from
set pieces as he has scored numerous spectacular free-kicks. Benzema and Ben Arfa will play up
front and the dup have already shown how dangerous they can be having scored eight goals between
them in the first seven league games of the season.