Two members of France's 1998 World Cup-winning side reunite at the Stade de la Meinau on Sunday night as Partick Vieira's Strasbourg play host to Laurent Blanc's Lyon in their opening Ligue 1 fixture of the new season.
While the hosts won three, drew three and lost one of their seven pre-season matches this summer, the visitors enter the 2023-24 campaign after suffering four defeats in five warm-up games.
Match preview
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After narrowly avoiding relegation from Ligue 1 last season, finishing 15th and just five points above the drop zone, Strasbourg have since made significant changes from top to bottom at the football club in a bid to turn their fortunes around in 2023-24.
In June, the Racers were taken over by BlueCo – a consortium led by Todd Boehly that bought Chelsea last summer – and just a few weeks later, former Crystal Palace boss Vieira was appointed head coach on a three-year deal.
Strasbourg have taken a similar approach to Chelsea in the transfer market by splashing the cash on young talent, spending over €55m on eight new arrivals including the club-record €20m addition of defender Abakar Sylla from Club Brugge.
The Alsace-based outfit concluded their pre-season preparations with a double-header against German club Werder Bremen last weekend, with a 3-3 draw in the first game shortly followed by a 2-1 victory.
Vieira is now hoping to begin his reign on a positive note and guide Strasbourg to their first opening-day win in Ligue 1 for four years against a Lyon side whom they beat 2-1 away from home in January.
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Lyon, meanwhile, missed out on European qualification for the third time in four years after finishing seventh in Ligue 1 last season, five points behind Lille in fifth.
Peter Bosz's underwhelming tenure came to an end in October, and the appointment of Laurent Blanc initially steadied the ship, but Les Gones ultimately fell short of a top-five finish and have since struggled to shrug off the disappointment in pre-season.
Indeed, a 2-1 friendly win over Dutch minnows De Treffers was followed by four successive defeats against Manchester United, RWDM, Celta Vigo and Crystal Palace, losing 2-0 to the latter at Selhurst Park last weekend.
Blanc is aware of the pressure that he finds himself under heading into his first full season as Lyon boss, and he will certainly welcome an opening-day victory on Sunday considering that challenging encounters against Nice and reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain are on the horizon.
Lyon have only lost one of their last nine meetings with Strasbourg and they came out on top in their most recent clash with the Racers, winning 2-1 away from home in April.
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Team News
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Strasbourg defender Maxime Le Marchand (back) and midfielder Nordine Kandil (knock) are both doubtful with injuries and will be assessed ahead of kickoff.
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde has recovered from a minor issue and should be in contention to start in centre-midfield alongside Jean-Eudes Aholou and Habib Diarra.
Chelsea loanee Angelo Gabriel and €13m signing Emanuel Emegha will both be pushing to start in attack alongside star striker Habib Diallo, who netted 20 Ligue 1 goals last season.
As for Lyon, they are blessed with a clean bill of health and Blanc could hand debuts to as many as four summer signing including defensive duo Duje Caleta-Car and Clinton Mata.
Former Arsenal man Ainsley Maitland-Niles joined Les Gones on a free transfer earlier this summer and the versatile Englishman may feature in centre-midfield alongside Corentin Tolisso; new recruit Skelly Alvero is another midfield option pushing to start.
Alexandre Lacazette impressed with 27 Ligue 1 goals last season, two behind Golden Boot winner Kylian Mbappe (29), and the experienced striker is expected to lead the line on Sunday with support provided in attack by in-demand teenager Rayan Cherki.
Strasbourg possible starting lineup:
Bellaarouch; Doukoure, Nyamsi, Sylla; Senaya, Diarra, Aholou, Bellegarde, Guilbert; Angelo, Diallo
Lyon possible starting lineup:
Lopes; Mata, Diomande, Caleta-Car, Tagliafico; Maitland-Niles, Tolisso; Barcola, Cherki, Jeffinho; Lacazette
We say: Strasbourg 1-1 Lyon
A battle between youth and experience takes centre stage at the Stade de la Meinau, with both teams hopeful of making a winning start to the new season.
Lyon have scored in each of their last 25 meetings with Strasbourg and they will fancy their chances of finding the net again on Sunday, but we believe that the hosts will do enough to claim a point.
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