Jerome Boateng will be back in the squad for Olympique Lyon’s match at Lens on Saturday after his suspension. The announcement was made on Wednesday by president Jean-Michel Aulas.
After Boateng was left out of the squad for the match against Nice (2-0) on 12 February, he will now already be back in the OL squad against Lens, president Aulas announced at a press conference on the club’s financial situation. “The coach met Jerome at the beginning of the week and will consider him again. He will be part of the squad that plays in Lens on Saturday if the training week goes well. We are counting on him for the rest of the season, in the championship and the Europa League. “
The decision not to include Boateng for the clash against the third-placed team in the table “would not have affected the team because we beat Nice,” Aulas said. In that match, centre-back Castello Lukeba, just 19, from Lyon’s youth set-up, had deputised for the 2014 World Cup winner. Lukeba has 11 appearances in Ligue 1 this season, while Boateng has 18.
L’Équipe” cited the 33-year-old’s repeated clashes with team-mates and, most recently, coach Bosz as the reason for the suspension. After the 2-0 defeat in Monaco on 5 February, he is also said to have argued loudly with coach Bosz about his tactics. This could have been the decisive factor in his being booted out for the game against Nice, one week after the Monaco game.
This defeat against the Monegasques was the only recent negative result for the “Gones”, who won four of their last five games, including against PSG’s pursuers Marseille and Nice. The penultimate defeat also dates back to 1 December 2021, a 1:2 against Reims. Thus, the Lyonnais climbed to 7th place in the Ligue 1 table, only six points behind third-placed Nice.
