After suffering a 1-2 defeat to Sparta Prague in the first leg of the Champions League third qualifying round last Tuesday, Lyon faces the Czech side this evening (9 PM) in the return match. The French club carries the weight of three previous summer setbacks in European competitions.
Avoiding history’s traps
If Lyon manages to overcome this tricky third qualifying round tie against Sparta Prague tonight (9 PM) — despite their first-leg loss (1-2, last Tuesday) — and then clear the next hurdle against Fenerbahçe (TUR) or Sturm Graz (AUT) in the play-offs on August 18-19 and 25-26, all dreams will be within reach. After all, in the 2009-2010 season — one of the two campaigns where they reached the Champions League semifinals (also in 2019-2020) — Lyon advanced through the play-offs by thrashing Anderlecht (BEL, 5-1, 3-1) in August 2009.
For now, however, the specter of a fourth summer failure looms large over the Rhône-based club. Following their Champions League exits to Maribor (SLO) in 1999 and Real Sociedad (ESP) in 2013, and their Europa League stumble against Astra Giurgiu (ROU) in 2014, we look back at these three missteps — the second less humiliating than the first, and the third downright comical.
August 1999 in the champions league: the shock defeat to maribor
Fresh off signing Brazilian striker Sonny Anderson from FC Barcelona for a then-record 125 million French francs (€18 million) — a hefty sum at the time — Lyon, fresh from finishing third in Ligue 1, entered the Champions League for the first time in their history with high hopes. Yet against the unfancied Slovenian side NK Maribor, reality struck hard. Under manager Bernard Lacombe, Lyon were stunned at home in the first leg (0-1) on August 10, 1999, conceding a late winner from Filipovic (89th minute) despite dominating play.
The return in Slovenia on August 25 was even more disastrous, as Lyon slumped to a 0-2 defeat, with Simundza (24th minute) and Balajic (45th minute) scoring. The team, featuring Anderson alongside Tony Vairelles, Alain Caveglia, Vikash Dhorasoo, and Grégory Coupet, put in a baffling display of impotence. The next day’s headline in L’Équipe read: « Lyon, the summer flop ».
Relegated to the UEFA Cup, Lyon were knocked out in the round of 16 by Werder Bremen (GER, 3-0, 0-4) after overcoming HJK Helsinki (FIN, 5-1, 1-0) and Celtic Glasgow (SCO, 1-0, 1-0). In Ligue 1, they finished third again in May 2000 and were eliminated in the quarterfinals of both the Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue.
August 2013 in the champions league: griezmann’s revenge
Fourteen years later, Lyon had grown into a powerhouse, claiming seven French league titles (2002-2008) and reaching the Champions League semifinals in 2010 (eliminated by Bayern Munich, 0-1, 0-3). Yet in August 2013, the Rhône club — fresh from a third-place finish in Ligue 1 — endured another summer European disappointment. After dispatching Grasshopper Zurich (SUI) in the third qualifying round (1-0, 1-0), Lyon faced Real Sociedad in the play-offs, a club they had previously deemed too frail to include in their youth academy years earlier.
The revenge was swift. In the first leg at Gerland on August 20, Antoine Griezmann — who had been snubbed by Lyon years before — opened the scoring (17th minute) with an acrobatic left-footed volley that made headlines in L’Équipe the next day. Real Sociedad went on to win 2-0, with Seferovic adding another goal (49th minute). The return leg in San Sebastián on August 28 followed the same script, as Lyon, now managed by Rémi Garde and featuring the likes of Samuel Umtiti, Yoann Gourcuff, Alexandre Lacazette, and Nabil Fekir, were undone again (0-2), this time by a Carlos Vela brace (67th, 90th+1 minutes).
Relegated to the Europa League, Lyon reached the quarterfinals (eliminated by Juventus Turin, 0-1, 1-2) but finished fifth in Ligue 1, exited the Coupe de France in the round of 16, and lost the Coupe de la Ligue final to PSG (1-2).
August 2014 in the europa league: the ultimate humiliation against astra giurgiu
« We got hammered by a bunch of nobodies we didn’t even know! » With his usual colorful language, the late Bernard Lacombe, then vice-president and special advisor to president Jean-Michel Aulas, perfectly summed up Lyon’s summer of 2014. The club suffered a humiliating elimination in the Europa League play-offs at the hands of Romania’s Astra Giurgiu, despite their 1-0 victory in the second leg away from home on August 28, thanks to a Jordan Ferri goal (23rd minute).
In the first leg at Gerland on August 21, Lyon — now under the management of Hubert Fournier — had taken the lead through Steed Malbranque (25th minute) before being pegged back by Fatai (71st minute) and Budescu’s stoppage-time penalty (81st minute). This 1-2 defeat, combined with the away goal rule in effect at the time, sealed their fate.
The squad, which also included Corentin Tolisso, Christophe Jallet, and Maxime Gonalons, recovered somewhat by finishing second in Ligue 1 in May 2015, securing their return to the Champions League. But the dreadful summer of 2014 — the worst of the three recounted here — brought an end to eighteen consecutive seasons of uninterrupted European football for Lyon.
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