Rudi Garcia announces his departure!

October 14, 2019. That day, Olympique Lyonnais formalized the arrival of Rudi Garcia as coach. After the Sylvinho failure, the Gones had decided to entrust the keys of the Rhone Formula 1 to a more experienced technician who had the advantage of knowing perfectly our dear Ligue 1. Long in pole position, Laurent Blanc was beaten during the interviews by a Garcia who knew his subject perfectly and who had charmed Juninho. Despite his reputation and his status as a former OM coach, the French coach signed until June 30, 2021.

Garcia doesn’t want to stay

And his contract will not go beyond that date. Indeed, OL decided to part ways with him at the end of the season. The coach announced his departure this Sunday at a press conference: “It’s a big disappointment, I wanted to leave the club by leaving the club in the Champions League. It is the hard law of sport. I did not expect this scenario. It’s a disaster”. Relaunched on the subject, he then said: “The last day took place, I always said that we would talk about it after the last day. I will not be there. It’s been a long time since I decided that I can’t achieve the best results under these conditions ”.

He added : “If the president (Aulas) has nothing to offer me tomorrow, so much the better, if the club has something to offer me despite everything, I will decline politely. I am not a candidate for my own succession ”. The divorce is therefore formalized between the two parties. But it has been a while since Garcia’s fate seems sealed. His understanding with his sporting director, Juninho, which is not very good as we explained to you on our site, has weighed in the balance. After a little less than two years between Rhône and Saône, the native of Nemours is leaving. So now is the time to take stock.

A delicate balance

Since his arrival, Rudi Garcia has managed the residents of Groupama Stadium 78 times in all competitions (57 matches in L1, 9 in the Coupe de France, 8 in the Champions League and 4 in the Coupe de la Ligue). That is a total of 44 wins, 15 draws and 19 defeats. In his first year, he led his troops to the semi-finals of the Champions League, notably eliminating Juventus and Manchester City. Under his orders, Lyon was also an unfortunate finalist in the Coupe de la Ligue against PSG. But his team did not qualify for any European competition, after the premature end of the 2019-20 season due to the coronavirus epidemic.

For his second season at OL, without the European Cup, therefore, he reached the quarter-finals of the Coupe de France. In the league, after a good first part of the season and an autumn championship title, OL finished on the 4th step of the podium. For the second year in a row, Jean-Michel Aulas’ team will therefore not play in the Champions League. Rudi Garcia is also the first coach to finish off the podium with OL during his first two seasons there. Despite everything, Lyon will be able to console themselves with the Europa League. Rudi Garcia’s record is therefore not up to the expectations of the Rhone leaders, especially as in the game OL has not always shown consistency. The end of an era …

Rudi Garcia becomes the first coach to finish off the podium in his first 2 seasons on the bench with the@OL in @ Ligue1UberEats since Bernard Lacombe in 1998.
Rudi Garcia has finished off the podium in his last 6 seasons on the bench in @ Ligue1UberEats. #OLOGCN

– Football Stats (@Statsdufoot) May 23, 2021