France in the Champs League: What awaits in the first leg?

By: Sam | February 17th, 2007

The round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League is fast approaching, and with the absence of any upsets in the group stage, all matchups are bound to offer more spectacle than humanly fathomable and they all promise very balanced sides whom all have the same realistic goal in mind. Stop smirking, ManU fans.

Tuesday, 20 February will feature Manchester United and Lille Olympique Sport Club. The former club being the heavy favourite, very much deserved looking at their impressive Premiership run this season and their array of amazing players such as Rooney, Ronaldo and my personal favourite, Ryan Giggs.

However, regardless of this, statistics show that the set of matches won’t be a walk in the park. First of all, of course, you all remember the two meetings between these two clubs last season, when Lille held the Red Devils to a scoreless draw at Old Tratford and humbled them at “home” in Paris through Milenko Acimovic. When playing in France, United have only won two of nine games. Another of those was also against Lille, with the teams playing to a 1-1 draw in 2002.

Now, I wouldn’t go to the point of betting against Manchester, I’m not biased to the point of thinking Lille will win without a fight. All I’m saying is that all youse guys who think of Lille as a gang of nobodies, you’ve got une autre chose coming.

Olympique Lyonnais and AS Roma will compete for another quarter-final spot on Wednesday 21 February when the not-sucking-anymore Lyon travels to the Italian capital to face a club who lost this weekend against Empoli.

OL, the best team in the group stage with an outstanding 14 out of a possible 18 points, are not to be messed with in the last 16. Period. Three years ago, they offed Real Sociedad 2-0. Two years ago, it was Werder Bremen’s turn. First leg: 3-0. Second leg: 7-2. Peace. Last year, playing PSV Eindhoven, the aggregate scoreline was a subtle 5-0.

Scary, no? To Roma’s credit, Lyon might be a bit timid thinking back to last year, when they had the semi finals in their hand until five minutes left in their game at San Siro against AC Milan, when Inzaghi and Shevchenko scored out of the blue to crush the Frenchmen’s dreams in style.

Lyon, coming off a tremendous finish at Lille, boast a remarkable Fred, who, if I had to bet, will score at least one in the home-and-away series.

So, you guys? Predictions? Observations?