Four important weekends in the life of les lyonnais coming up: today in Paris OL play in the League Cup final against that other Olympique team, Marseille. Two weeks later they return to the Stade de France for the French Cup final against Norman minnows Quevilly. Two trophies would somewhat redeem the season for les gones, though no chickens are being counted yet. OM might be in a dreadful run of form, but they are still Marseille. And Quevilly might be in a league two levels lower than Lyon, but they are no mugs, having already beaten Marseille & Rennes and previously reached the semi-finals of the French Cup two years ago. OL beat another Ligue National team, Ajaccio, in a somewhat stormy mid-week semi-final amid a hostile atmosphere on the Île de Beauté, with several bad-tempered confrontations following a red card for one of the Corsicans, and OL striker Gomis allegedly subject to racist chants. A less than comfortable 4-0 win was the end result.
Meanwhile, in the political arena, campaigning for the first round of the presidential election is almost into its final week, with the second round two weeks later. There's little doubt it will be a UMP vs PS final, with polls still showing Sarkozy and Hollande more or less neck and neck in the first round, well ahead of the battle for third place between the far left (Melenchon) and extreme right (Le Pen fille). And Hollande is still apparently just ahead in the final play off. On verra…
