Lyon fight for return to CL amid off-field worries

PARIS: Lyon are desperate to get back into the Champions League but their stuttering start to the new year threatens that ambition just as they face serious financial problems and their American owner finds himself making enemies with the French league.

On the field, Pierre Sage´s team took on Fenerbahce in Istanbul on Thursday in the Europa League, a competition in which they are hoping to go all the way. Domestically, though, Lyon have won just one of their last four Ligue 1 matches and go to Nantes on Sunday having slipped down to sixth, two points outside the qualifying spots for next season´s Champions League.

They also suffered a humiliating defeat in the French Cup on penalties to fifth-tier side Bourgoin-Jallieu last week, but making the Champions League for the first time since 2019/20 has always been the priority for the club that once dominated football in France.

Lyon were recently warned by the DNCG, French football´s financial control body, that they would be relegated at the end of this season without drastic action to reduce debts. Lyon are part of John Textor´s Eagle Football group, which owns several other clubs including Botafogo, the Brazilian and South American champions.