Olympique Lyon look to wrap a remarkable season
PARIS, May 22 - Olympique Lyon look to a remarkable synthesis season with their first domestic double when they face Paris St Germain in the Coupe de France final on Saturday.
Lyon bags a record seventh consecutive league title last weekend while PSG escaped relegation in the last round of matches with a 2-1 victory at Sochaux.
Lyon have not won the Cup since 1973 and will be eager to imitate AJ Auxerre that the last team to clinch both the league title and the Cup in 1996.
Before Auxerre, only Girondins de Bordeaux (1987) and Olympique de Marseille (1989) won the double since 1980.
"A double is something you can not forget in your life, full-back Francois Clerc told Reuters.
However, he said PSG would be dangerous opponents and can play with more freedom they had in the relegation battle.
"In a way, Parisians have suffered the same kind of season that we - with a lot of stress and a happy ending," he added.
"They will not have the" Ball and Chain "they have been throughout the season."
Lyon should be almost complete with centre back Jean-Alain Boumsong recover quickly from a groin strain and striker Abdulkader Keita return to training on Thursday after being out of the team because of stomach problems.
However, a suspension for Cris means that if Boumsong should be ruled out, coach Alain Perrin would be forced to include Swiss Patrick Mueller, who has played only one league match this season.
With Switzerland plays a Euro 2008 warm-up match against Slovakia on Saturday, Mueller was asked to be released from service club.
"I talked to Coach switzerland by phone yesterday," said Perrin. "If Boumsong is good, we will liberate Mueller."
PSG, who won the League Cup in March, have been marked as cup specialists. They won the League Cup and french in 1995 and 1998, winning 10 of 13 Cup finals they have played in.
They will have to cope without goalkeeper Mickael Landreau and bid farewell to Portuguese striker Pedro Pauleta, who played his last match for the club after scoring 76 goals in 168 league matches.
"I have good feelings," said right rear PSG Bernard Mendy on the club website.
"The most important thing for us was to avoid relegation. Now that it's done, we can finish the season with the trophy, which is important for the club, for us and for the fans."
PSG hope their supporters will be on their best practices.
The club have been excluded from next season the League Cup supporters deployed a banner abuse this year finals
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