A “decisive moment” (according to Paulo Fonseca) and a match “which can change the outcome of the season” (dixit Moussa Niakhaté), but a stadium only two-thirds full. This is the scenario that awaits OL this Thursday (6:45 p.m.), during their Europa League round of 16 second leg against Celta Vigo (1-1 in the first leg). The club thus indicated on Wednesday evening that around 40,000 tickets had found buyers in an OL Park with a capacity of 59,186 seats.
Why then this absence of absolute fervor in Décines, when Corentin Tolisso’s gang has a unique chance to offer themselves a European epic, up to an unprecedented final for OL, given their part of the table (the winner of Fribourg-Genk in the quarter, then Braga, Betis Sevilla or Panathinaikos in the half)? Three major reasons for this: the particularly delicate schedule of the match, the pricing policy long criticized by supporters around this round of 16 second leg, and finally the relative prestige of the opponent.
Really punishing programming
If in the Champions League, only two round of 16 returns (Sporting-Bodo/Glimt and FC Barcelona-Newcastle) were scheduled for the end of the afternoon, this is the case for four Europa League matches in total, between Braga-Ferencvaros (Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.), then Fribourg-Genk, Midtjylland-Nottingham Forest and therefore OL-Celta Vigo, all this Thursday at 6:45 p.m. A schedule solely linked, in the case of Lyon, to the “choice of TV broadcasters at international level”.
A stroke of bad luck therefore, since the Rhone club had been scheduled for 9 p.m. on the first leg, just like in six of its eight matches in the first phase of the Europa League, which it had concluded in the lead. This schedule is all the more detrimental as the Parc OL de Décines (around fifteen kilometers from the city center of Lyon) is difficult to access +++ by car, on a conventionally heavily armored eastern ring road when leaving the office, between 5 and 7 p.m.
(Initially) high prices for the match
As soon as the ticket office opened for this round of 16 second leg of the Europa League on February 27, many Lyon supporters complained about the price list applied on social networks. For season ticket holders, seats in the corners were 25 euros, and from 37 € excluding kop, rising to 70, 90 and 126 euros in the side stands, and even more for the general public.
“For example, we could get a ticket for 20 euros in Ferveur Sud for the C3 quarter-final against Manchester United last year,” regrets the X EntreLyonnais69 account, dedicated to the Parc OL ticket office. There, these same places against Celta were initially at 37 euros for season ticket holders and 41 euros for the general public. For a match on a Thursday at 6:45 p.m., the prices were off the mark. » This is why less than 30,000 places had been sold until March 12, at the time of the first leg in Galicia.
OL have since worked hard to rectify the situation, launching an attractive “afterwork pack” on Friday, with a place in the upper south turn and a drink for 25 euros. The impact was immediate, with more than 5,000 seats sold overall that day. There was then the possibility of purchasing “mystery tickets” since Tuesday, with “a mystery location on a low or intermediate flight”, again for 25 euros. Enough to finally exceed the 40,000 spectator mark (including around 5,000 Celta fans) thanks to these attractive prices in the home stretch. “Given the major stakes of this match, we made a sporting choice rather than an economic one,” said the club.
Celta Vigo, a hardly flashy opponent
Throughout its journey up to a hypothetical final, OL are avoiding the three most prestigious clubs in the competition this season in the Europa League, namely AS Roma, Porto and Aston Villa. Although it is currently 6th in La Liga, Celta Vigo remains unknown to the general public, as will the following possible opponents in the quarters and semis.
Our file on OL
In addition to the classic 9 p.m. schedule and immediately reasonable prices, the aura of Manchester United has on the contrary obviously counted in the popular enthusiasm for the C3 quarter-final first leg at Parc OL (53,771 spectators) last spring. Between the two rounds of the municipal elections, even Jean-Michel Aulas did not help OL. The former emblematic president of the club has scheduled a rally this Thursday evening on Place des Terreaux, pushing Lyon supporters to choose their priority.
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