Sports Mole previews Thursday’s Europa League clash between Lyon and Besiktas, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
In-form Lyon will welcome a Besiktas side currently bottom of the Europa League‘s 36-team table to the Groupama Stadium on Thursday night.
Pierre Sage‘s side extended their winning run to five games with a convincing victory over Le Havre at the weekend, and have won both of their games on the continent so far.
Match preview
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After a poor start to the season which left Sage’s job security hanging in the balance, Lyon have had a remarkable transformation seemingly overnight.
A run of just one win in six games has been followed up by a five-game winning streak, with their 4-0 win over Le Havre on Sunday moving them to within just a point of the Champions League places, a matter of weeks after they were in the relegation zone.
Two wins from two to start their Europa League campaign has possibly been the catalyst for this impressive run, as the first victory in that sequence came on matchday one against Olympiacos.
Lyon would go on to follow that up with a thumping 4-1 success in Glasgow against Rangers last time out, with striker Alexandre Lacazette moving into fifth in the all-time Europa League scoring charts on 24 after a brace at Ibrox.
The hosts are heavily fancied to make it three from three here as well, as Lyon have lost only one of their 26 Europa League group stage games, avoiding defeat in all 13 of their home games in this stage of the competition.
OL also got the better of Besiktas in their only previous meetings, when they were drawn together in the quarter-finals of the UEL back in 2016-17, winning on penalties after scores were level at 3-3 on aggregate.
Avenging that defeat seven years on might be difficult for Besiktas, because even though their domestic form has been excellent, they are struggling to get going on the continent.
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A 5-0 win over rivals Galatasaray in the Super Cup, netting eight goals in their qualifier against Lugano and taking 20 points from a possible 24 so far in the Super Lig looks a phenomenal beginning to the campaign for Giovanni van Bronckhorst‘s men.
However, Besiktas sit at the foot of the lengthy Europa League standings, after a chastening 4-0 defeat at Ajax, and a very disappointing performance at home to Eintracht Frankfurt on matchday two.
One reason for optimism is that manager Van Bronckhorst took his Rangers side all the way to the final of this competition back in the 2021-22 season despite losing their opening two games of that campaign as well.
However, like many Turkish clubs, Besiktas are poor on the road in this competition, having lost four in a row away from home, conceding 15, while also losing eight of their last nine games across all venues.
France is a particular location that BJK do not enjoy, as four of their five previous visits to the country have ended in defeat.
Lyon Europa League form:
Lyon form (all competitions):
Besiktas Europa League form:
Besiktas form (all competitions):
Team News
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Lyon will be able to call upon Duje Caleta-Car again here after he served a domestic suspension over the weekend, and the Croatian centre-back is set to start alongside Moussa Niakhate.
Clinton Mata returned ahead of schedule from injury to feature at the back in Caleta-Car’s absence on Sunday, and he could move to a more natural right-back role in this one, replacing Ainsley Maitland-Niles.
Nemanja Matic is currently out with a back issue and Wilfried Zaha was left out once again by Sage after also missing the Nantes encounter before the international break due to a disciplinary breach.
Besiktas are set to be without winger Milot Rashica after he was forced off early in Kosovo’s win over Cyprus just over a week ago, so Van Bronckhorst will have been glad to see Rafa Silva return to the scoresheet in the 2-0 win over Konyaspor at the weekend, ending a seven-game scoring drought.
Al Musrati recovered from a thigh injury to feature in the weekend win, but Necip Uysal and Gabriel Paulista remain sidelined, with the latter picking up a thigh issue shortly before the break.
Goalkeeper Ersin Destanoglu was given his first appearance in the loss over Frankfurt on matchday two, but has not been part of any matchday squad since, with a thigh injury also keeping him out.
Lyon possible starting lineup:
Lucas Perri; Clinton Mata, Caleta-Car, Niakhate, Tagliafico; Veretout, Tolisso; Benrahma, Cherki, Fofana; Lacazette
Besiktas possible starting lineup:
Gunok; Svensson, Uduokhai, Topcu, Masuaku; Ndour, Gedson Fernandes; Rafa Silva, Muci, Kilicsoy; Immobile
We say: Lyon 3-0 Besiktas
Lyon appear unstoppable at present, and are favourites to make it six wins a row here against the team currently bottom of the Europa League standings.
Despite great form domestically, Besiktas have been utterly outclassed by Ajax and Frankfurt so far, and now have to face one of the most in-form sides in Europe.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.