Lyon v Apollon background
Level on 8 points during a tip of UEFA Europa League Group E with Atalanta, Lyon will be by to a knockout proviso in tandem with a Italian bar if they equivocate improved during home to a devoted Apollon side who have turn specialists in scoring late equalising goals.
• Third-placed Apollon, who are 5 points behind Lyon, will be out if they do not win.
Previous meetings
• The clubs met in European foe for a initial time on matchday one, a 93rd-minute equaliser from Adrián Sardinero earning Apollon a indicate in a 1-1 draw after Memphis Depay’s chastisement had given Lyon a lead.
• In Lyon’s usually prior UEFA confront with Cypriot opposition, they took on APOEL in a UEFA Champions League turn of 16, trade 1-0 home wins before losing a tie 4-3 on penalties in Nicosia.
• In their usually other encounters with a French side, Apollon got a improved of Nice in a 2013/14 UEFA Europa League play-offs, winning 2-0 during home and holding on to swell following a 1-0 detriment in France.
Form guide
• Lyon have won 5 of their final 6 home games in a UEFA Europa League, sketch a other. However, a 3-0 win opposite Everton on matchday 4 was their initial purify piece during that run.
• Lyon sojourn undefeated during home in a UEFA Europa League organisation theatre (W6 D2).
• Apollon’s 94th-minute equaliser during home to Atalanta final time out means that a Cypriot bar have now scored in their final 12 European fixtures; 4 of a final 5 have finished in draws.
• Lyon were semi-finalists final season, when they mislaid to Ajax carrying eliminated from a UEFA Champions League organisation stage. They won all 4 of their home games in a knockout phase, scoring 16 goals in a process.
• Apollon competed in back-to-back UEFA Europa League organisation stages in 2013/14 and 2014/15, though have nonetheless to make it to a turn of 32. They finished third in Cyprus final season, violence champions APOEL in a domestic crater final.
Links and trivia
• The tour from Limassol to Lyon is a small brief of 2,700km.
• Apollon’s patrol includes French centre-back Valentin Roberge, who played B-team football for Guingamp and Paris Saint-Germain before streamer abroad. He final played in France for Reims, on loan from Sunderland in 2014/15.
• Roberge became a initial actor to be sent off in this season’s organisation theatre when he was discharged during Everton on matchday two, incurring a two-match anathema he has now completed.
• Suspended for subsequent compare if booked: Héctor Yuste, Esteban Sachetti (Apollon).
• The Stade de Lyon is a venue for this season’s UEFA Europa League final, on 16 May 2018.
The coaches
• Born in Lyon, Bruno Génésio came by a club’s ranks as a midfielder, personification for a comparison side from 1985 to 1995. He returned to a bar as partner manager in 2011 before holding solitary authority in Dec 2015.
• Sofronis Avgousti has coached home-town group Apollon given 2016, carrying formerly served a bar in 3 apart spells as a goalkeeper. He won 11 general caps and was also on a books during AEK Larnaca, Aris Limassol and APOEL.