Lyon Break the Agreement Against Fiorentina

Last Sunday, Olympique Lyonnais won the hard way against Nice. Spotting them a 2-0 lead, the French Champions fought back to win 3-2 after a stoppage time penalty kick was buried by Karim Benzema.

Yesterday, they started out in horrendous fashion once again, this time in Champions League action hosting Fiorentina.

Lyon began the game well and created the first good chances. Mathieu Bodmer hit a close range shot off the bar after the ball was moving around the box in pinball fashion.

The first goal came from a terrible clearance by centre-half Jean-Alain Boumsong. Luciano Zauri took the gift and fired a curling cross into the box that was met by the head of Alberto Gilardino. Hugo Lloris had no chance, and Lyon were down early for the second straight game.

The Viola nearly doubled their lead after Sergio Almiron's long free kick smashed off the bar in the 20th minute. Meanwhile, French goalkeeper Sebastien Frey made a fine save from a Jeremy Toulalan shot.

Adrian Mutu forced Lloris into a superb save after another Boumsong give-away. Fiorentina doubled their lead when Mutu sent a perfect cross from the right side for Gilardino to head home.

Benzema was the most dangerous player for the hosts, testing Frey on a number of occasions. Fiorentina were holding them off quite comfortably. Then, a controversial incident took place that brought Lyon back into the game.

Zauri was down in his own box, and quite obviously in pain. Down 2-0 at home though, Lyon clearly had no time for sympathy. They took advantage as Benzema took a through-ball from Juninho, and laid it off for Frederic Piquionne to pass the ball into an empty net.

Fiorentina were furious—especially with Benzema—for not allowing Zauri to receive treatment. If that wasn't bad enough, Benz would equalize for Les Gones in the 86th minute.

Instead of going for goal on his free kick, Juninho slid a pass by the wall to Karim, whose shot was deflected past a helpless Frey. The top team in the French Ligue 1 managed to save a point, but they did it in a less than classy way.

Normally, when a player is down and the opposing team has the ball, they knock it out of play. The injured player then gets some treatment and his team returns the ball to the original team that had possession.

It's a sort of agreement that has come to be known between the teams. Lyon didn't keep their end of the deal, and as a result may not get any gratitude or respect in the future if the same situation should arise to one of their own.

Should UEFA make this an official rule to prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future? What if this had happened during a more serious injury on the field? Like when Eduardo was taken out of action for Arsenal?

Fiorentina shouldn't worry, as the second match with Olympique Lyonnais will be at the Artemio Franchi Stadium in Italy.

Payback may very well be a b*tch on November 25th.