Marseille vs Lyonnais preview - Marseille coach Michel turns focus to Lyon match

Posted Saturday, September 19, 2015 by PA

Marseille coach Michel has lavished praise on his team ahead of Sunday's Ligue 1 encounter against Lyon at the Velodrome stadium.

L'OM followed last weekend's 4-1 home victory over Bastia with a 3-0 triumph at Groningen in Thursday's Europa League opener.

The victory in Holland was Michel's third success since the Spaniard took over the team last month following the surprise resignation of Marcelo Bielsa.

"This is a great feeling," Michel said to Ligue1.com. "The Europa League is an important competition, and we want to win it.

"With this performance, we proved that we're up to scratch.

"We started very strongly and signalled our intent. The final score is fantastic.

"We got the job done both on the pitch and in the dressing room. I believe in my players.

"Since my first day at the club, I've had faith in them and they've repaid that faith with an excellent attitude out on the pitch."

Marseille had not won on the road this season before Thursday's triumph.

Michel's side has been on a roll at home, thrashing Troyes 6-0 before a convincing win against Bastia.

"Now we need to recover quickly as we turn our attention to Lyon," the coach said.

Lyon were also in action in Europe this week and were held to a 1-1 draw at Gent in their Champions League group opener in Belgium.

OL could not clinch three points despite Gent having two players sent off on Wednesday.

Lyon forward Alexandre Lacazette also had a chance to win two minutes from time but had his penalty saved.

"It's disappointing to end the match with a missed penalty," Lyon coach Hubert Fournier said to Ligue1.com.

"Having an extra man should have permitted us to win the match, and at the very least we should have hung onto our 1-0 lead. But we conceded a goal I would qualify as stupid.

"And then, with the penalty we missed, our fate took another turn for the worse. Only the future can tell whether this penalty missed by (Alexandre) Lacazette will weigh heavily on us."

Lyon were held to a goalless draw at Lille last weekend and are sixth in the standings, five points adrift of league leaders Paris St Germain and two points clear of Sunday's rivals.

Fournier's side won their opening two away games in Ligue 1, the last a 4-0 victory at Caen.