Smarting Garcia eyes Lille coup as PSG lie in wait
PARIS: Lyon coach Rudi Garcia will atempt to shake off his side’s biter midweek French Cup quarter-final exit to Monaco and derail the Ligue 1 title hopes of his former club Lille on Sunday.
Garcia criticised referee Stephanie Frappart ater Lyon had what appeared to be the opening goal disallowed in Wednesday’s 2-0 home loss, and for a yellow card shown to Memphis Depay that will rule him out against Lorient next month.
“It’s an elimination that was not at all deserved,” said Garcia. “We had too many things go against us. I don’t think the refereeing was at the level of the two teams.”
He added: “What do you want me to say to the players other than to congratulate them for the performance and that it’s how we need to play Sunday against Lille and at Monaco in the league.”
Ater failing to qualify for Europe last season, Lyon are at the very least aiming for a top-three finish, with the leading four teams separated by just three points with five matches to play.
Garcia was in charge of Lille when they won a domestic double in 2011, the club’s last silverware, and, depending on other results, Lyon could replace them at the top with a victory at Groupama Stadium.
Lille coach Christophe Galtier is doing his best exude calm, having seen side occupy first place for much of the last three months.
“We’re not under pressure, because we make sure that there isn’t any,” he said. “But there’s a real desire to create something special.”
Paris Saint-germain will have the chance to climb above Lille when they visit Metz on Saturday, four days before their Champions League semi-final first leg at home to Manchester City.
Mauricio Pochetino’s men powered into the last four with a 5-0 rout of Angers, as Mauro Icardi scored a hat-trick while Neymar bagged his first goal since late January.
Neymar is available again ater serving a two-match ban for his red card against Lille.
Niko Kovac’s Monaco are the in-form side and have scored 14 times without reply in their past four outings. They could also go above Lille by making it 14 victories in 17 games this year, away to Angers, who have slid to 12th following a run of just one win in 11.
French League fixtures (all times GMT) On Saturday: Saint-etienne vs Brest (1100), Metz vs Paris Saint-germain (1500) On Sunday: Nice vs Montpellier (1100), Lens vs Nimes, Lorient vs Bordeaux, Rennes vs Dijon, Strasbourg vs Nantes (all 1300), Angers vs Monaco (1505), Lyon v Lille (1900)