Lyon sweating on Lisandro for Lille clash
Olympique Lyon are sweating on striker Lisandro Lopez's fitness as the injury-hit seven-times French champions travel to Lille for a Ligue 1 clash on Sunday hoping to quickly bounce back from a Champions League drubbing.
Lyon, who have been without the Argentine for eight weeks because of an ankle injury, as well as midfielders Clement Grenier and Maxime Gonalons, were crushed 4-0 at Real Madrid on Tuesday.
"We must not dwell on it and get ready for Sunday's game at Lille," said France playmaker Yoann Gourcuff, who is just back from a lengthy injury lay-off.
Without Lisandro, however, Lyon do not seem to have their usual efficiency up front.
"When we do not have a full squad, we suffer a lot more. If we had Lisandro, Clement Grenier and Maxime Gonalons, and if the players who were back from long-term injuries had played more before the game, it could be a different story," coach Remi Garde told reporters.
Lisandro has resumed training and could be included in the squad for the trip to Lille, who were also defeated in the Champions League on Tuesday when they lost 1-0 at home to Inter Milan.
Lyon are third in the standings with 20 points from 10 games, one point above fourth-placed Lille.
On Saturday, Montpellier could move to the top of the table, at least provisionally, if they beat Caen away as leaders Paris Saint-Germain only play on Sunday at home against promoted Dijon, who have the second worst defence in the league.
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Olympique Marseille, 15th in the standings after having won only one game so far, will try and put Wednesday's Champions League 1-0 defeat to Arsenal behind them when they host promoted AC Ajaccio.
"We will have to forget about it. We have our back against the wall. We must win on Saturday," coach Didier Deschamps told reporters.