If Lyon manages to escape the tricky third qualifying round return against Sparta Prague this Tuesday (9 PM) — despite last week’s away loss (1-2) — and then overcomes the playoff hurdle against Fenerbahçe (TUR) or Sturm Graz (AUT) on August 18-19 and 25-26, all dreams will be within reach. In the 2009-2010 season, one of their deepest Champions League runs (reaching the semifinals, as in 2019-2020), Lyon had indeed navigated the playoffs by sweeping Anderlecht (BEL, 5-1, 3-1) in August 2009.
August 1999 in the Champions League: the unexpected slap against Maribor
Fresh off a blockbuster transfer coup by signing Brazilian striker Sonny Anderson from FC Barcelona for 125 million French francs (€18 million) — a hefty sum at the time — Lyon, who had finished third in Ligue 1, approached the Champions League with high ambitions. Their maiden voyage into Europe’s elite competition, however, turned into a fiasco against the modest Slovenian side NK Maribor. The French side, then coached by Bernard Lacombe, suffered a home defeat (0-1) in the first leg of the third qualifying round (August 10, 1999), stunned by a late Filipovic strike (89th minute) despite dominating play without converting chances.
The return leg in Slovenia on August 25 was even worse, as Lyon suffered a 0-2 defeat, with goals from Simundza (24th minute) and Balajic (45th minute), displaying staggering impotence. The lineup that day included Sonny Anderson alongside Tony Vairelles, Alain Caveglia, Vikash Dhorasoo, and Grégory Coupet. The next day’s headlines in L’Équipe read: « Lyon, the summer flop. »
Relegated to the UEFA Cup, Lyon was eliminated in the round of 16 by Werder Bremen (GER, 3-0, 0-4) after overcoming HJK Helsinki (FIN, 5-1, 1-0) and Celtic Glasgow (SCO, 1-0, 1-0). In Ligue 1, Lyon finished third again in May 2000 and was knocked out of both domestic cups in the quarterfinals.
August 2013 in the Champions League: Griezmann’s revenge
Fourteen years later, Lyon had evolved into a club of entirely different stature, having secured seven French league titles (2002 to 2008) and reached a Champions League semifinal in 2010 (eliminated by Bayern Munich, 0-1, 0-3). Yet in August 2013, the Rhône-based club — which had finished third in Ligue 1 that May — faced another summer disappointment in the Champions League. After dispatching Grasshopper Zurich (SUI) in the third qualifying round (1-0, 1-0), Lyon faced Real Sociedad in the playoffs, a club they had previously deemed too frail to include in their youth academy years earlier.
The revenge of French striker Antoine Griezmann was emphatic. In the first leg on August 20 at Gerland, « Grizou » opened the scoring (17th minute) with an acrobatic left-footed volley that made headlines in L’Équipe the following day. The Basque side went on to win 2-0, with Seferovic adding another goal (49th minute). In the return leg at Anoeta on August 28, the script repeated itself for Lyon, then managed by Rémi Garde and featuring players like Samuel Umtiti, Yoann Gourcuff, Alexandre Lacazette, and Nabil Fekir. They suffered another 0-2 defeat, this time on a brace by Carlos Vela (67th, 90+1 minutes).
Relegated to the Europa League, Lyon reached the quarterfinals (eliminated by Juventus Turin, 0-1, 1-2) but finished fifth in Ligue 1, was knocked out of the Coupe de France in the round of 16, and lost the Coupe de la Ligue final to PSG (1-2).
August 2014 in the Europa League: the ultimate humiliation against Astra Giurgiu
« We got burned by a bunch of clowns we didn’t even know! » With his usual colorful language, the late Bernard Lacombe, then vice-president and special advisor to president Jean-Michel Aulas, perfectly summed up Lyon’s ordeal in the summer of 2014 during the Europa League playoffs. The club suffered a humiliating elimination by the modest Romanian side Astra Giurgiu, despite a 1-0 away win in the second leg on August 28, courtesy of a Jordan Ferri strike (23rd minute).
In the first leg at Gerland on August 21, Lyon, then managed by Hubert Fournier, somehow managed to lose 1-2 despite taking the lead through Steed Malbranque (25th minute). They were undone by goals from Fatai (71st minute) and Budescu (81st minute, penalty).
That squad, which also featured Corentin Tolisso, Christophe Jallet, and Maxime Gonalons, limped to a runners-up finish in Ligue 1 in May 2015, securing Lyon’s return to the Champions League. But the disastrous summer of 2014 — the worst of the three setbacks recounted here — had brought an end to eighteen consecutive seasons of uninterrupted European competition for the club.
