having received a slap with defeat at sl benfica on matchday 4, jimmy briand said olympique lyonnais "mustn't turn the other cheek" when the group b leaders meet fc schalke 04.
until this season the uefa champions league was a spectacle jimmy briand enjoyed from the comfort of his living room.
the paris-born striker was first captivated by europe's leading club competition in the mid-1990s when his home-town side participated on a regular basis. "i used to follow paris saint-germain at the time of george weah and raí," the olympique lyonnais forward said. "those games thrilled me."
briand, 25, would pay particular attention to a young psg attacker: nicolas anelka had just broken into the first team and quickly became a role model. "i've admired him ever since i was little," said the four-times french international who, like anelka, attended the french football federation (fff) school at clairefontaine before joining stade rennais fc's academy. "i still love watching him play for chelsea. for me, he's got everything a world-class striker needs."
briand's most striking uefa champions league memory, however, is not of anelka lifting the trophy with real madrid cf in 2000, but of liverpool fc's comeback victory in istanbul five years later. "it was an extraordinary scenario," he said. "to have a fantastic match like that as a final is just amazing."
perhaps inspired by liverpool's never-say-die attitude against ac milan, briand's lyon side came close to conjuring a houdini act of their own on matchday 4. trailing 3-0 at sl benfica at half-time, the ligue 1 outfit conceded a fourth goal on 67 minutes before storming back with three late strikes. "we played like schoolkids for an hour and benfica took advantage," said briand.
before that setback, the €6m summer signing from rennes had played an integral part in lyon's perfect start to group b, even scoring his first uefa champions league goal in a 2-0 home win over benfica. yet any illusions he might have had about the standard of the tournament were shattered in lisbon. "it's a very special competition," briand said. "you pay dearly for the smallest error."
briand is now calling for complete focus at fc schalke 04 on wednesday. "we got a slap at benfica so we mustn't turn the other cheek to schalke, because there's a risk of the same thing happening," he warned. "schalke need points, they know they've still got a hard game at benfica, so they'll put us under a lot of pressure with a fantastic crowd behind them. it's up to us to be clever, not to give in and to wait for the right moment to take the points we need."
one point from their two remaining fixtures would suffice to book ol's place in the last 16 for a ninth season running. they reached the semi-finals for the first time last term and, according to briand, they can do at least as well again.
"lyon have shown what they're capable of – perhaps the big teams are stronger this year but so are we," he said. "we need to believe in ourselves and play with our heads held high. after all, in a two-legged game anything can happen."
klaas-jan huntelaar struck twice as schalke advanced to the knockout phase, while the result did not prevent the visitors from doing likewise.
fc schalke 04 and olympique lyonnais both qualified for the last 16 of the uefa champions league, although the hosts were the happier side on the night after a 3-0 victory carried them to the top of group b.
schalke did the damage in the first half with jefferson farfán scoring in the 13th minute and klaas-jan huntelaar adding the second seven minutes later. the netherlands forward then put the seal on an emphatic victory courtesy of a deflected shot a minute from time. hapoel tel-aviv fc's historic win against sl benfica provided welcome news for both clubs, with lyon reaching the knockout rounds for an eighth successive season.
farfán gave the home side an early lead after raúl gonzález had pounced on an attempted clearing header from pape diakhaté and tricked his way past dejan lovren. raúl, the record scorer in uefa champions league history, turned provider on this occasion as his cross clipped off diakhaté and fell perfectly for farfán to slot in his second goal of the european campaign.
home goalkeeper manuel neuer got his body behind efforts from lisandro and michel bastos as lyon pressed for an equaliser in an open start to the match, but felix magath's schalke dominated the first-half chance count and duly doubled their advantage when huntelaar provided a calm finish to a peer kluge cross.
josé manuel jurado and his fellow spaniard raúl adorned the opening period with their skill and vision, and the latter – a hat-trick scorer against sv werder bremen at the weekend – hooked in an audacious, instinctive effort from 35 metres which hugo lloris did well to tip over.
lyon made an adventurous substitution at half-time with centre-forward bafétimbi gomis replacing left-back aly cissokho, but coach claude puel's plans were thrown into disarray on the hour when playmaker yoann gourcuff was taken off on a stretcher suffering an injury to his right ankle. kim källström went closest to pulling one back after 72 minutes with a fierce volley which neuer turned around his left post with his feet.
huntelaar's deflected strike on 89 minutes totally wrong-footed lloris and was the perfect way for schalke to sign off on a 100% home record in the group stage. the striker and his team-mates will now bid to seal first place in the section when they travel to face benfica on december 7. a point off the summit, lyon entertain hapoel on the same day.
