Euroscene/Paddy Agnew Can Olympique Lyonnais put French football back on top? Following France's impressive 5-0 and 4-0 routs of Slovenia and Malta, respectively, in European Championship qualifiers last week, you might argue that the French are already back there anyway.
Yet curiously, French club football has consistently failed to match the recent record of the French national team. Three weeks ago, however, reigning champions Olympique Lyonnais (OL) suggested they may soon go some way to redressing that balance when producing some sparkling football in a 2-1 Champions League away win against Serie A joint leaders Inter Milan.
That win put Lyon top of their group and a repeat performance at the Stade de Gerland in Lyon tonight could see the home side take a major step towards qualifying for the second phase and perhaps put Inter out of the reckoning as well.
Lyon represent the new face of a French club scene long dominated by more familiar names such as Auxerre, Bordeaux, Monaco, Nantes and, above all, Paris St Germain and Olympique Marseilles. Under the guidance of their president Jean-Michel Aulas, Lyon have taken full benefit of the potential support base offered by one of France's biggest industrial cities and they have set up an excellent youth team system.
Equipped with their own TV station, supported by media multinational Pathé and, with the French title finally in their trophy room for the first time following a last-day win over Lens last May, OL recently received the ultimate accolade from their peers when admitted to the G14 group that includes Real Madrid, Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Juventus.
There is a link, too, between the present Lyon side and the French national team. He is the national team coach Jacques Santini, the man who took over from Roger Lemerre after France's flop in this summer's World Cup finals.
Before France's bomb-out in South Korea, Santini had guided Lyon to that historic first title win last spring. Now coached by former Paris St Germain player, 38-year-old Paul Le Guen, Lyon look stronger than last season.
Just to underline their current well-being they saw off league leaders Auxerre with an emphatic 3-0 win on Saturday in which Juninho came off a month-long stay on the bench to register an impressive hat-trick that leaves Lyon sixth in the table, but just three points behind joint leaders Nice and Auxerre.
If those three goals are good enough to get Juninho - Juninho Pernambucano not Juninho Paulista of Middlesbrough - back into the side (and that is by no means certain), he will be one of three Brazilians in the team as World Cup-winner Edmilson lines out in defence while the much travelled 32-year-old veteran Sonny Anderson continues to lead the line up front with devastating effectiveness.
This is Anderson's fourth season at Lyon (Vasco da Gama, Servette, Marseilles, Monaco and Barcelona are just some of his other clubs), while it is Edmilson's third and Juninho's second.
Alongside Anderson will be another rising star of French football, 23-year-old youth team product Sidney Govou, who scored France's fifth goal against Slovenia after coming on as a substitute. He and midfielder Eric Carriere have been called into the national squad, with Carriere also getting on the scoreline with France's fourth against Malta.
Coach Le Guen is inevitably playing things cannily for tonight's game, promising, however, that his side will not go looking for a safe draw. He said yesterday: "It would be a pity for us to go out looking for a draw. No, no, we'll go out looking to create chances and to score like we did at the San Siro. If we answer the call like we did last Saturday (against Auxerre) then that won't be bad." ...
