Olympique Lyonnais are in crisis: five matches without a win, red cards in four of their last five league games, penalties conceded and endless injuries. However, right now, with Maccabi Tel Aviv as their opponents — a team who cannot play at home and collapsed in the last round against Beitar Jerusalem (2:6) — they have a genuine chance to end their poor run.
Maccabi Tel Aviv
In Israel, Maccabi Tel Aviv are no longer the dominant champions: they trail Hapoel Beer Sheva both in points and in terms of performances, and in the Europa League they have collected only one point from a 0:0 draw with PAOK Thessaloniki in the first round. After that came three defeats in a row with an aggregate score of 1:8. If the 0:2 loss to Aston Villa was largely expected, against Midtjylland (0:3) and Dinamo Zagreb (1:3) they did not even put up a fight. Due to the security situation, the team play all their home matches at neutral venues, and this is undermining what little confidence they have left.
Olympique Lyonnais
In November, Olympique Lyonnais have looked tired and worn down, but in the Europa League they have shown what they can do. Three consecutive clean-sheet wins (against Utrecht, Red Bull Salzburg and Basel 1893) were followed by a 0:2 defeat by Real Betis. However, the squad were probably already thinking about the upcoming match against Paris Saint-Germain, in which they were close to a draw (once again a red card let them down). Now the motivation is completely different: the direct place in the last 16 is under threat, and against this level of opponent they simply have to take three points, even with a rotated side.
Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Olympique Lyonnais Prediction
Maccabi Tel Aviv are clearly not at the same level as Olympique Lyonnais, who have already beaten stronger clubs in this Europa League. We expect the visitors to win.
