Champions League

Courtesy MCT Campus

LYON, France — OK, so it may not be the football you know and love, but it is the football Europeans know and love.

Last Tuesday, I had the pleasure of going to my first professional soccer (don’t say soccer in Europe) game.

My hometown team, Olympic Lyonnais, took on APOEL Nicosia from Cyprus in the round of 16 in the Union of European Football Association’s Champions League.

My first impression was football fans in the United States have nothing on their European counterparts.

From the start of the game to the very end, the crowd was amped up. At the beginning of the game, the opposing side’s fans lit flares.

Apparently this is normal in Europe, but the same action would have security crawling all over these fans in America.

However, there were 20-plus security guards and an empty section of bleachers separating the Lyon fans from the APOEL fans. Gotta keep ‘em separated.

It was the perfect way to spend a Valentine’s Day—a night at the stadium with the boys.

Lyon, who wears a pinkish-colored jersey for Champions League games, even looked to be in the spirit of the day’s
celebration.

During the match, it was apparent that Olympic Lyon was the better team. In the first half, they held the ball 63 percent of the time. APOEL’s offense was nonexistent in the first half, not getting one shot on goal.

But, the first team from Cyprus to make it into the elimination round of the Champions League was able to head into the locker room tied with the home team at 0-0.

Finally, I was able to sit down at the half after standing for the entire first 45 minutes.

I proudly sported my Olympic Lyon jersey and shouted the chants with the rest of the section, even though I barely knew the French words they were saying. I was only missing one thing—a vuvuzela.

The first score of the game happened in the 58th minute as Alexandre Lacazette scored to put Olympic Lyonnais up 1-0. In fact, that was the only score of the game. Olympic Lyon held the lead until the end for a win.

Olympic Lyon outclassed APOEL in every field. They had 18 shots, five on goal, while APOEL only had one shot on goal. Lyon held the ball 64 percent of the time and had seven corner kicks to APOEL’s 4.

While it may not have been the most exciting of games, my first intro into European football was a great experience.

By the end of the game, I did learn one chant, “Qui ne sauté pas, n’est pas Lyonnais,” which translates to “He who does not jump is not from Lyon.” I made sure to jump.

It was the best Valentine’s Day I’ve had in recent memory. Football in America and the rest of the world is completely different, but I have come to like and respect each.

With that said, nothing is on the same plane as American football.

Justin Dalme is an Arbiter journalist studying abroad in Lyon, France.

Short URL: http://arbiteronline.com/?p=81745

Posted by justindalme on Feb 21 2012. Filed under Sports, Sub Feature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.