Lyon demote star defender after poor performance against Angers
Lyon lose to Angers
It has been a difficult start to Ligue 1 for Olympique Lyon. In the absence of Memphis Depay, who left the club for Barcelona in the summer, they have struggled in their opening games, drawing 1-1 to Stade Brest before suffering a disappointing 3-0 defeat to Angers.
It was, however, perhaps the nature of the defeat that was most disheartening for Lyon players and fans, with the side never looking like they were in the tie despite dominating possession, and having Burnley linked winger Maxwel Cornet sent off 25 minutes from time.
Angers 3-0 Lyon FT:
⚽ Boufal
⚽ Marcelo (o.g.)
🔴 Cornet sent off
⚽ OunahiAngers move to the top of Ligue 1. pic.twitter.com/GqHyWZOrwv
— Squawka News (@SquawkaNews) August 15, 2021
Marcelo demoted
One of the players deemed most at fault for the defeat was centre-back Marcelo, with GetFrenchFootballNews scoring him a 1/10 in their player ratings, saying:
“Awful. Lucky not to be sent off more than once and a lazy back pass resulted in a comical own goal.”
As a result of the performance, Lyon have today released a statement bizarrely condemning the Brazilian to the U23 side for the foreseeable future. On their official site, they wrote:
“Olympique Lyonnais informs that following his defeat at Angers and the analysis made by the stakeholders of the Sports Directorate and his coach Peter Bosz, it was decided that his player Marcelo would take part in From this day on to the training sessions of the PRO 2 group”
L’Olympique Lyonnais informe qu’en accord entre les parties prenantes de la Direction sportive et son entraîneur Peter Bosz, il a été décidé que son joueur Marcelo prendrait part à compter de ce jour aux séances d’entraînements du groupe PRO 2.https://t.co/oBxqa26ykc
— Olympique Lyonnais (@OL) August 17, 2021
Allegedly, his poor performance was followed up with poor post-match behaviour, with the report continuing:
“The inappropriate behavior of Marcelo in the locker room, after the match played in Angers, justifies this decision taken unanimously by all of the sports management of Olympique Lyonnais.”
Having signed a new two year deal earlier this year, it remains to be seen just how severe Lyon punish their star defender, who has made 167 appearances since joining the French outfit in 2017.
For now, however, they head into the rest of the season a defender light.
