Lloris: Lyon the perfect target for APOEL
Reuters - Monday 13 February 2012, 17:10
Attack-minded Olympique Lyon will
be the perfect target for APOEL Nicosia as the Cypriots look to
score on the break, goalkeeper Hugo Lloris said ahead of
Tuesday's Champions League last-16 first leg in France.
Lyon, who slumped to a surprise 2-1 home defeat by
strugglers Caen in Ligue 1 on Saturday, have developed an
eye-catching style of play but often get hit on the
counter-attack.
"We concede too many goals, which makes our games more
complicated because we need to score two or three to win,"
France keeper Lloris told a news conference on Monday.
"If we're not rigorous, we'll be in trouble. They sit back
and make the most of their counter-attacks. They're typically
the kind of side that can score against us.
"We have seen that when we fall behind against a team that
defend deep on the pitch, we struggle to come back."
Lloris reckoned the key to reaching the last eight would be
not to concede at home.
"Let's start by not conceding a goal, and possibly let's try
to win the game to make it easier for ourselves for the return
leg," he said.
APOEL, who qualified top of a group featuring Porto,
Shakhtar Donetsk and Zenit St Petersburg, firmly believe in
their chances of another upset.
"They are clearly a bigger club than us with a much bigger
budget and better footballers but that doesn't mean anything as
we have shown that a small team can reach the knockout stage of
the competition and do just as well in this next stage," APOEL
captain Constantinos Charalambides told uefa.com.
"I am convinced we can do to Lyon exactly what we did in our
group to Shakhtar, Porto and Zenit. I believe in this team and
with the right approach and a little bit of luck, why not?"