Lyon plan to be anything but friendly towards the Old Firm
Lyon boss Rudi Garcia has warned the Old Firm they won’t be treating their preseason games as friendlies this week.
Celtic and Rangers travel to France to face the Ligue 1 giants, with the Ibrox club playing at the Groupama Arena on July 16, and Celtic there two days later.
Both Glasgow sides will also face Nice.
Lyon face a busy schedule after they play the Old Firm.
They take on PSG in the French League Cup Final at the end of the month, and then Juventus in the second leg of their Champions League tie in Turin.
So Garcia is determined to field his strongest team against their Scottish visitors as warm-ups for their two crunch games, including former Celt, Moussa Dembele.
He said: “Preparation is essential and no friendly games will be played. Playing against Rangers and Celtic, two high-level teams in Scotland, is exactly what we’re looking for.
“They are two fantastic opponents for us, even if we will not be able to play with as many supporters as we wanted.”
Lyon will allow 5,000 of their own fans into their stadium for both games, with strictly no away supporters.
Former Celtic starlet Daniel Arzani wasted two years of his career by choosing to play in Scotland, according to Greece manager, John van ’t Schip.
The Australian international played just 26 minutes for the Hoops in total after two sub appearances – against Dundee last season, where he was stretchered off after a serious knee injury, and a brief cameo against Partick Thistle in the Scottish Cup.
Arzani has joined Dutch side Utrecht on loan from Manchester City in a bid to relaunch his career.
He was given his debut by Van ’t Schip when he was Melbourne City manager in 2016.
And he reckons Arzani made a poor career choice when he signed for the Scottish champions.
He said: “I don’t think it was a very good move for him going to Celtic.
“The reason I say that is because of the standard of football in Scotland.
“He should have come to the Netherlands.
“He is potentially a very, very good player, but he barely played at all in Scotland.”