Olympique Lyon versus Real Madrid – Key Battles: UEFA Champions League (Part 1)
As Lyon gears up to take on Real Madrid, it is time to shed some light on some of the key battles that will define the outcome of UEFA Champions League’s Round-of-16 encounter at Stade de Gerland.
Cristiano Ronaldo versus http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Anthony-Réveillère-c6232
Victim of Amantino Mancini’s six step-over trick, Anthony Réveillère, is no stranger to tricky wingers. An experienced European campaigner with Olympique Lyon, the Frenchman has seen his fair share of embarrassing moments on the field.
Generally regarded as a solid customer at his right wing back position, Réveillère is prone to an occasional error or two against the finest in the game.
His job in the Lyon squad as a right back requires immense stamina and concentration but unfortunately for the former Rennes defender, he lacks the pace and focus essential to a wing back in the UEFA Champions League.
As Cristiano Ronaldo licks his lips at the idea of blitzing past the 31-year-old defender, Réveillère would do well to learn from his past encounters with the Portuguese winger.
Imitating the philosophy of inverted wingers, Jose Mourinho plays the right footed Ronaldo on Real Madrid’s left wing. This means that more often than not, the former World Player of the Year is destined to come inside on his stronger foot rather than pursue
an outside course with his weaker left foot.
When Manchester United met Lyon in the Round-of-16 of the 2007/2008 UEFA Champions League, Ronaldo had the better of Réveillère almost every time the former Sporting Lisbon forward ran besides the French full back.
Last season when Real Madrid suffered an embarrassing exit from the UEFA Champions League at Lyon’s hands after losing by a 0-1 at Santiago Bernabéu, it was Anthony who had restricted Cristiano Ronaldo to an anonymous role for most part of the match.
This had an enormous adverse effect on Real as a whole, depending on Cristiano to provide the Los Blancos with width and skill down the left hand side of their attack. This time around, battle of the two “R’s” will be a defining one once again.
Ronaldo has been on song for Real Madrid in La Liga with 34 goals and Lyon was quite leaky with regard to their defense during the group stages of the UEFA Champions League as they conceded 10 goals in six matches.
This mix of a prolific Cristiano Ronaldo and a punctured Lyon defense can prove to be pivotal for Los Merengues in their pursuit of an away goal at Stade de Gerland.
The best hope for Lyon to balance the Anthony Réveillère versus http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Cristiano-Ronaldo-c9629 battle is to double up on the former Manchester United winger.
Claude Puel will most likely deputize Jeremy Toulalan to help out Lyon’s veteran full back with Cristiano’s blistering pace and trickery.
However, this does not guarantee an end to Ronaldo’s goal scoring threat but it does give Lyon their best chance of stopping the Spanish league’s top scorer in his tracks.
Nonetheless, this strategy has it’s fallbacks as well. If Toulalan becomes preoccupied with Ronaldo’s antics down the left wing, Mesut Ozil and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Xabi-Alonso-c37045 will benefit from the free space in central midfield which will create mismatch in the center of the
park for the French giants.
In the next part of this series, Angel Di Maria’s battle against the bulky http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Aly-Cissokho-c5313 will be highlighted upon. Both the youngsters have been doing very well at their respective clubs but now what remains to be seen is how they will perform against each
other in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League Round-of-16 tie between Lyon and Real Madrid.
The views expressed by the writers are his own and do not reflect the editorial policy of
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