Lyon react to Hammers draw

Lyon general manager Vincent Ponsot thinks that the French club have been handed a terrible draw in the Europa League after being paired with the Hammers.

The Irons qualified for the quarter-finals of the competition by beating Sevilla, while Lyon beat Porto to get to this stage of the competition.

The Ligue 1 side are currently 10th in their domestic league and have not exactly been firing on all cylinders, meaning that this is surely a game the Hammers will feel confident of winning.

And that feeling has been reinforced by Ponsot’s comments after the draw, in which he claimed his side face a huge task to topple the Hammers and reach the last four.

The winners of the game will play either Eintracht Frankfurt or Barcelona in the last four, after the last four draw was made along with the quarter-final draw.

Speaking to RMC Sport, as transcribed by The London Evening Standard, Ponsot said: “It’s a big piece.

“Sixth in the Premier League this year and sixth last year, two points off Chelsea. Big team and big draw, because beyond that there’s the winner of Eintracht Frankfurt-Barcelona.

It’s a tough competition, you can see it with all the teams from the Champions League that have been knocked out in the Europa League.

“We knew we’d have big opponents. It’s true that with the current potential draw with West Ham and then potentially Barcelona in the semis, who will need to beat Frankfurt, it’s hard to do worse. We’ll gallantly play our bit.”