Olympique Lyonnais made a good start to the pre-season with a convincing 4-0 win over Hamburg SV in their third pre-season match. The goals were scored by Malick Fofana, Ainsley Maitlani-Nilas, Georges Mikautadze and the new recruit Afonso Moreira. The team is actively preparing for the coming season, with a gala game scheduled against Bayern Munich on 2 August at the Allianz Arena. This match will be particularly interesting because Bayern Munich could strengthen its strength with the upcoming arrival of Luis Diaz, the Colombian striker, who could thus face OL in an unprecedented context.
OL also pay particular attention to the development of its young talents. Although the Academy has not experienced a period of success in recent years, many young players have the opportunity to train with the professional team during the pre-season. Nearly half of the 26 players invited for the internship in Austria come from the Academy, including names such as Khalis Merah, Tiago Gonรงalves and Corentin Tolisso. The aim is to give these young people a chance to join the first team and contribute to OL’s success.
In addition to sports preparation, OL engages in solidarity actions. Tabitha Chawinga, OL player, recently took a break to play with Malawi, where she also created an academy for football development. In particular, it had organized collections of shoes and gloves for the caretakers of Malawian children, an initiative that had been highly appreciated. In addition, OL’s reserve participated in friendly matches against teams such as the Servette FC and Lyon-La Ducher, to prepare for the season in National 3. Despite a draw against Lyon-La Ducher (3-3), the players showed good promises, with goals from Daryll Benlahlou and Yannis Lagha.