Downfall of Lyon

Avid fans of the UEFA Champions League will surely remember Lyon (or Olympique Lyonnais) during their participations in that competition for the past 5-10 seasons backwards. Lyon was once a club of a household name in European football. They created history by winning the French league for a consecutive SEVEN (7) times in a row from 2001/2002 season till 2007/2008 season. During that time of dominations, Lyon was an almost unstoppable team both in France and Europe. Adding to that fact, Lyon has had a number of big named players in the mould of Karim Benzema, Hatem Ben Arfa, Michael Essien, Hugo Lloris, Mahamadou Diarra, Gregory Coupet, Eric Ebidal, Sidney Govou, Jeremy Toulalan, Lisandro Lopez, and Florent Malouda among others. But one player that stood out above the rest of these great players is Juninho Pernambucano.

Juninho is still considered the biggest legend in Lyon. He was among the only players that involved in all those seven league titles run-in. He scored almost 100 goals in 350 appearances for Lyon. Juninho was famous for his bending free-kicks and was widely considered as the best free-kicks takers of all time. His free-kicks technique is legendary. His goals through free-kicks were still live in the memory of The Writer because the way Juninho took them was almost perfect, even in the tightest of angle. Goalkeepers and defenders during that time were clueless to stop Juninho and that made Lyon as one of the most feared team in the Champions League once upon a time. Just to toughen up these statements, Lyon never won the French league before the arrival of Juninho. That tells the readers on how influential Juninho was to Lyon. In 2009, Juninho finally decided to end his stay at Lyon. And during his last press conference to bid his farewell, he only stayed speechless alongside the club president, Jean Aulas. The heart must felt too heavy for Juninho to leave Lyon, but The Writer thinks Lyon is the one that felt the farewell too much to bear. 

Lyon never reached the same height again after the departure of Juninho. Other stars also decided to leave Lyon and the club never managed to attract the biggest name of superstars. This contributes to Lyon’s poor performances in the French league and they also didn’t qualify for the Champions League to this day. The re-emergence of Paris Saint Germain and Monaco further kicks Lyon down the pecking order in the French league. The Writer hopes Lyon can be great again in the future as it is too heartbreaking to see one of the giants of European football slip away slowly from radar...