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Laurent Blanc, the former France international defender, carried Bordeaux over the finish line in just his second year in management, as les Girondins claimed a league record 11 wins in a row to sneak to the title past Marseille and 7-time winners Lyon, having only taken the lead of the championship with two games to go.
It was Bordeaux’s first title victory in a decade, which itself was won on the final day and ahead of Marseille. The Gironde side were powered by the dazzling talents of Marouane Chamakh and Yoann Gourcuff, the next player to be anointed as the successor to Zinedine Zidane.
CHANGES
The close season saw a number of changes on the back of the European Championships – with most of the top sides selling key talent. Marseille let young star Samir Nasri depart for Arsenal, while Sebastien Squillaci departed Lyon for Sevilla. Jeremy Menez was transferred to AS Roma, while Johan Elmander also quit France for the Premier League.
It was Lyon who bucked the trend however, given their dominant position in Ligue 1 at the time – having won the last 7 titles and their continued participation in the money-spinning UEFA Champions League. They complemented their squad with the signings of Ederson, Jean II Makoun, Miralem Pjanic, John Mensah and Hugo Lloris.
The saga of the summer turned out to be that of Hatem Ben Arfa, the maligned young winger sensationally departing Stade Gerland in acrimonious circumstances to force through a move to Marseille – where he’d do the same three years later.
On the benches, Claude Puel – the former Monaco boss was named head coach at Lyon, with Michel der Zakarian swapped for Elie Baup at Nantes in August. Alain Perrin, who had just master-minded a title win for OL popped up at arch-rivals Saint-Etienne in November.
SEASON SUMMARY
After several false-starts, there was silent optimism that this would finally be the season that Lyon’s record title run would finally come to an end after seven years. Not only were the champions…
Source link : https://www.footballcritic.com/season-reviews/bordeaux-end-lyon-stranglehold-for-first-title-in-a-decade-ligue-1-in-2008-09/799
Author : [email protected] (Martin Macdonald)
Publish date : 2024-07-23 14:00:00
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