Lyon should be too strong in every department for APOEL Nicosia and the French side may be able to virtually guarantee their spot in the Champions League quarter finals with a big win on Tuesday night.
Many people felt that Lyon were lucky to make it to the last 16 of the Champions League with Les Gones only sealing their place on goal difference in the last round of matches. That is slightly unfair on the French as, although they have failed to hit the heights of recent seasons, they were solid in Group D and were only beaten by Real Madrid.
The fact that they managed to beat Dinamo Zagreb 7-1 augurs well for Lyon's chances against APOEL Nicosia in the last 16 first leg on Tuesday night. Remi Garde's side are clearly adept at putting weaker opponents to the sword and that is what they will need to do against the Cypriots. It is 4/9 at
bet365 that they beat the visitors in the Stade Gerland and they will be looking to claim a big win to virtually guarantee their passage to the quarter finals of the Champions League.
It is 5/4 at
bet365 that Lyon win by at least two goals on Tuesday and that could well be the best bet on the match. APOEL Nicosia received a lot of praise for qualifying from a group containing Shakhtar Donetsk, FC Porto and Zenit St Petersburg but the truth is that those three are fairly average sides at the top level. The fact that all three have won the Europa League in recent seasons is as much of an indictment as a positive as it illustrates that they are part of the second tier of European football clubs, not the top.
Nonetheless, APOEL did still do well to lose just one of their five matches in Group G and they managed to contain some good attackers but the likes of Bafetimbi Gomis, Jimmy Briand and Lisandro Lopez will be confident of scoring and between them they should be able to unlock the Cypriots' well drilled defence. Those who think otherwise can get odds of 7/2 at
Sky Bet on a draw or 15/2 at
Boylesports on an away win.
One senses, however, that if Lyon can make the breakthrough then the visitors, who have never been in this position before, could lose their discipline and goals could rain in the Stade Gerland. It is 11/2 at
188Bet that the final score is 2-0 to the French side or 11/1 with the same firm that the home side win 3-0. Either of those results will put them in a very strong position to progress to the quarter finals.
