Tenth in Ligue 1 after 23 days, Olympique Lyonnais – with an ambitious winter transfer window – continues its crazy rise in the standings in recent weeks. However, if the Rhone club can still dream of Europe, the title of champion of France is already inaccessible for Pierre Sage’s men. Relegated 26 points behind Paris Saint-Germain, Les Gones also suffered from the overwhelming domination of the Rouge et Bleu, title holders on the national scene.
Invited this Thursday in London to participate in a conference organized by the Financial Times newspaper on the business of football (Financial Times Business of football Summit), the American owner of Olympique Lyonnais, John Textor, returned to this Parisian supremacy in Ligue 1, at a time when Vincent Labrune and the LFP are trying to promote, at best, the elite of French football. “Who will be interested in the French championship and watch it on TV if we know who will win?” asked the Kirksville native in particular.
Textor denounces biased competition with PSG!
Relaunched on the subject, Textor also made an unequivocal dig at PSG, owned by Qatar. In France, “Everyone is fighting for second place, it’s the same team that wins every year”. The other clubs “are in competition with a government, not a private company”. “I say to the president of PSG, Nasser (al-Khelaïfi, editor’s note) in private and sometimes in public: Is anyone having fun? Why do you like it?” A media release symbolizing the frustration currently felt by the OL boss.
Arriving at the head of the club in December 2022, the majority shareholder of Botafogo also admitted “having made the mistake of not making changes during the summer” in its workforce. And to add: “making changes during the season is really difficult”. In the meantime, if Olympique Lyonnais cannot take part in the fight for the title of French champion this season, the Rhone club – which qualified on Tuesday for the semi-finals of the Coupe de France – will have a great opportunity to challenge the domination of PSG, opposed to OGC Nice on March 13, in the other major French competition…
