Choc des Olympiques: When Chaos Rules Football | OneFootball

Choc des Olympiques, Olympique Lyonnais vs Olympique Marseille. A game that is the very definition of destructive chaos ruling football. When these two meet, you’d better not blink for a second because at any moment, that fire is lit up and is ready to burn. From incidents of seeing former Lyon coach Pierre Sage attacked with a bottle thrown at him, leaving him with TWELVE stitches, to Marseille snatching wins with late goals, this is the Choc des Olympiques preview.

Choc des Olympiques History

The first Choc des Olympiques fixture took place on the 23rd of September 1945, where it finished 1-1. To begin with, it wasn’t the fierce rivalry we know it as today. But as the 1990s arrived, with Jean-Michel Aulas investing in a debt-ridden and then 2nd-tier side, Olympique Lyonnais, in June 1987, the competitiveness and rivalry only grew greater as the clubs competed for the top seat in French football.

Both sides have challenged one another for the Ligue 1 title on numerous occasions and have also shared memorable Choc des Olympiques games, including a 5-5 draw in 2009.

The Latest Team News

Roberto De Zerbi will remain without summer signing Igor Paixão as well as Facundo Medina and Geoffrey Kondogbia ahead of the Choc des Olympiques as they recover from injury. Adrien Rabiot may not feature after falling out with the Italian coach. However, De Zerbi did say the situation was recoverable:

Paulo Fonseca’s side will be without Enzo Molebe, who continues his recovery from an ankle injury. Orel Mangala and Ernest Nuamah also remain unavailable as they recover from cruciate ligament injuries. Some players at Lyon still have an uncertain future, with the likes of Malick Fofana and Georges Mikautadze among those who could be sold before deadline day due to their current financial situation.

The Recent Choc des Olympiques Head To Head Record

Last season, Olympique Lyonnais and Marseille played out two 5-goal thrillers in the Choc des Olympiques, with Marseille winning both games 3-2. In the previous three meetings before last season, Marseille won two of those three meetings, with the only defeat in that run coming from a single Alexandre Lacazette goal in February 2024.

Historically, since 2010/11, Olympique Lyon leads on the overall head-to-head record with 14 wins to Marseille’s 9 wins. But they haven’t beaten Marseille in the Choc des Olympiques since that 1-0 win in 2023/24. They took the lead in the last meeting at the Groupama stadium through Duje Caleta-Car. However, they went on to lose the game in stoppage time with Jonathan Rowe getting a 95th-minute winner. That was two minutes after Rayan Cherki equalised to make it 2-2 in the 93rd minute.

Both sides have shown great fight and determination in the recent meetings, but it goes in Marseille’s favour, who just seem to find something when it matters most in the most recent Choc des Olympiques meetings.

The Predicted Line-Ups

Olympique Lyonnais – Descamps, Maitland-Niles, Mata, Niakhaté, Abner, Tessmann, Morton, Karabec, Tolisso, Fofana, Mikautadze

Olympique Marseille – Rulli, Murillo, Egan-Riley, Balerdi, Garcia, Gomes, Højbjerg, Greenwood, Gouiri, Weah, Aubameyang

Both sides look set to begin a 4-2-3-1 shape, which should be interesting from a tactical perspective.

The Key Battles

• Tyler Morton and Tanner Tessmann vs Pierre-Emil Højbjerg and Angel Gomes – This will be a fascinating matchup between these four midfielders. Whichever side can get on the ball and find their respective ball dictator, they’re capable of holding good pitch territory. It’s important from a Lyon perspective that they get Morton on the ball when they have possession and when they don’t have possession, they stop Angel Gomes from having time. The same applies for Marseille; they’ll want Angel Gomes on the ball as much as possible with possession. But without it they cannot allow Tyler Morton to control and dictate.

• Malick Fofana vs Amir Murillo – Fofana is a very quick, explosive, dynamic and technically beautiful player that can cause trouble at any moment. Murillo isn’t the quickest defender so it’s important he holds good positions to stop Fofana getting into a flow.

• Timothy Weah vs Ainsley Maitland-Niles -From a positional perspective, this could be a very key battle. Weah will want to get in behind using the pace he has, whilst Maitland-Niles may like to invert into a midfield position to try to help Lyon dominate central areas with an extra body. Weah’s position could dictate this because if he holds a wide position, Maitland-Niles can’t take the risk to leave him with space to run into.

Score Prediction and Final Thoughts

Olympique Lyon 2-2 Olympique Marseille

This should be a very exciting game, physically and technically as well as tactically. Both coaches like their teams to dominate the ball and have that control in central areas so that wider players have more space to run into and exploit. The key battle will be in that midfield; whoever has the discipline and control in that area will be the side with the greater control of how the game is played out.