All falling into place? Lyon building foundations for big future

LYON: Gone are the days when Lyon were France’s dominant club, winning seven straight league titles in the last decade, and Tuesday’s last 16, first leg against Barcelona will be their first Champions League knockout match in seven years.

Unable to keep up with Paris Saint- Germain in Ligue 1, it would be a major shock if Bruno Genesio’s team beat the Catalans over two legs.

However, while ‘ OL’ have no Lionel Messi, and their revenue last season was less than a quarter of Barcelona’s — a huge 690.4 million euros ( USS$ 780m) according to the Deloitte Football Money League — they are genuine competitors to Barca elsewhere.

According to analysis by the CIES ( International Centre for Sports Studies) Footbal l Observatory on the number of players to have been trained at youth level by clubs who have gone on to play in Europe’s five leading leagues since 2014, Lyon are right on the tails of Spain’s giants.

Barcelona and Real Madrid each provided 69 players, with Lyon third on the list with 56, two fewer than Manchester United but with more minutes played overall.

Barcelona have not been as reliant on youth from their renowned La Masia academy recently, tending towards buying proven talent instead, including France centre-back Samuel Umtiti from Lyon.

Meanwhile, three of Lyon’s starters as they beat Guingamp on Friday emerged from their academy: goalkeeper Anthony Lopes, Houssem Aouar and Nabil Fekir.

The latter helped France to World Cup glory in Russia, and a move at the end of this season seems likely, with Fekir set to follow in the footsteps of many before him. — AFP