Preview: Les Parisiens hope to wrap up title race against Les Gones
On Tuesday, despite holding a 3-1 advantage from the first leg, PSG were dumped out of the Champions League by a resurgent Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Two days later, Lyon saw their European dreams go up in smoke after being defeated in the second leg of their clash with Juventus.
Hence, both sides will be eager to put this week's disappointments behind them as they turn their attention towards the domestic campaign. For hosts Lyon, they are just four points behind fourth-placed Saint-Etienne who occupt the last European football spot--albeit whichever team makes it will have to secure a spot in the Europa League via the playoffs. As for PSG, Laurent Blanc's troops can clinch the league title should they win--and should Rennes do them a favour by beating second-placed Monaco.
The big absence up front for Les Parisiens will be of course key hit-man Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has netted 25 goals so far in the league, and with a +10 lead over second-placed teammate Edinson Cavani, should be able to retain his top scorer prize for another season. As for the former Napoli man, the Uruguayan international was largely disappointing in the absence of Ibrahimovic against Chelsea, failing to trouble the Blues' goalkeeper on any of his four attempts. Hence, the €63 million signing will obviously hope to put on a better showing to convince his coach, and fans, that he's more than adquate at leading the line for his new side.
Olympique Lyonnais, who will face off against their opponents again in 6 days for the Coupe de la Ligue final, also have some injury concerns of their own. Yoann Gourcuff and Clement Grenier are still struggling with fitness issues with ankle and groin problem respectively, but it's more likely that coach Remi Garde will be more focused on the impending clash between these two sides on April 19--as victory will ensure his side will feature in Europe next season.
Naturally, with each squad coming of disappointing results this past week, both Les Gones and Les Parisiens will obviously want to get back to winning ways; however, the last time these two sides met, it finished as a 4-0 rout in favour of the visitors. Nonetheless, captain Thiago Silva has admitted that his side will have to dig deep to re-focus after crashing out of the Champions League just a few days prior.
"It's always difficult after an elimination like the one we have just suffered against Chelsea, to focus immediately on the league," the Brazilian international noted via his team's website.
"However, we need to bounce back and get back to winning by taking it one game at a time."
Should all the results go in PSG's favour, it will be an interesting case of déjà vu as the Stade de Gerland was where they won their first league title since 1994, courtesy of a goal from Jeremy Menez. Yet, Lyon will be keen to delay the visitors' title celebrations as they hope to head into the re-match six days later brimming with some vestiges of confidence.
Where to watch the match – live stream, start time, TV channels, live scores
Watch Lyon vs PSG live on Sunday, April 13, 2014:
In Canada at 15.00 ET on: beIN Sports Play Canada, beIN Sports Canada
In the US at 15.00 EST on: beIN Sports Play, beIN Sports USA, Univision Deportes, SiriusXM FC
In the UK at 20.00 BST on: BT Sport 1
In France at 21.00 CET on: beIN Sports 1, Canal+ France
For live score updates and more live listings of the game, visit the Lyon vs. PSG match page.
