Ligue 1 
Lyon continue their late push for European football when they take on Clermont Foot in Sunday’s midday Ligue 1 clash at the Stade Gabriel Montpied.
The hosts have managed to retain their Ligue 1 Uber Eats status for a second consecutive year following their promotion from the second division in 2021. Clermont sit in a healthy mid-table spot on 50 points, 11th in the standings. There is a huge 18-point gap to the bottom four which sees the central France outfit free of any relegation fights with four games remaining.
Lyon will still be hoping they can qualify for European football after another disappointing season without it in 2022/23 following an eighth-place finish last campaign. Laurent Blanc’s side will be looking to rectify that and restore European nights to this big club, but they will have to keep winning in order to do that as they currently sit outside those places in seventh. The 14-point gap to the top three means that the Champions League is no longer possible, but UEFA Conference League and possibly Europa League qualification could be achieved if results go their way. Lyon are eight points behind fourth-place Monaco and three adrift of Lille in fifth, who occupy those UEL and UECL places, respectively.
CF63 won’t be an easy task for Lyon, with the home side going into the weekend in a good run of form. Pascal Gastien’s side have won five of their last six, with the draw away to Auxerre last Sunday putting an end to their five-game winning streak. Auxerre, who are fighting for survival and were one-point above the drop zone heading into the tie, scored the opening goal in the first half before Saif-Eddine Khaoui’s second-half strike earned a point for Clermont.
OL are also in fine form, as they have to be to have any chance of rising up the table before the season ends. Les Gones have won five of their last six, including an away win against PSG in early April, with their only defeat coming in a devasting 2-1 Derby des Olympiques defeat when Marseille clinched a win with a 92nd-minute own goal from Chelsea loanee Malo Gusto.
Lyon bounced back with back-to-back league wins, first against Strasbourg and then in a nine-goal thriller with Montpellier last weekend. In an incredible back-and-forth game, both Alexandre Lacazette of Lyon and Elye Wahi of Montpellier scored FOUR goals apiece, with former Arsenal striker Lacazette bagging the winning penalty in the tenth minute of added on time to see the game end 5-4. This was just the second time in 75 years of Ligue 1 history that two players had scored four times in the same game, with the last occasion being in May 1974 in Reims’ 8-4 thrashing of Monaco, when Carlos Bianchi and Delio Onnis were on form in front of goal.
