The lowdown on Lyon

HISTORY
Although they date back to the late 19th century, the modern-day Olympique Lyonnais was not officially founded until 1950, and has grown into what is now the third most supported club in France, behind the clubs from the only two cities in the country with bigger populations than Lyon: Paris St Germain and Marseille.

Curiously, all seven of Lyon’s Ligue 1 titles came in the same period, an uninterrupted streak from 2002 to 2008, the club’s golden era. Their best ever run in the Champions League took them to the semi-finals in 2010, losing to Bayern Munich.

Since then, Lyon have sometimes had to settle for the Europa League rather than the UCL, but their women have been conquering all-comers from the continent, winning four of the last seven Champions Leagues.

JOAN GAMPER AND HIS YEAR IN LYON

STADIUM
This will be Barça’s first ever visit to the 59,186 capacity Stade de Lyon, which in 2016 replaced Stade de Gerland, now home to rugby union club OU Lyon.

It was here that Portugal beat Wales in the Euro 2016 semi-finals, and also where Atlético Madrid won the Europa League Final last year, and later in 2019 it will be the venue for the Women’s World Cup Final.