Lopes On Being Booted From Lyon: “I Never Thought My End Would Look Like This”

24 years in the club

24 years at the club, eleven seasons as number one, 489 games, the fifth most appearances in the club’s history – and an apparently bitter end. Anthony Lopes, who was demoted to fourth goalkeeper at Olympique Lyon, has spoken critically about how he was treated. The Europa League participant did not deal transparently with the situation between the posts, the 34-year-old Portuguese accused the club management in an interview with “L’Équipe”.

Lopes analyzed that he doesn’t see himself as number four. “I simply believe that I don’t belong in the hierarchy of goalkeepers at OL. I am in the place I was given, which means no place. I accept the situation as best I can, knowing that I have no other choice. I’m in the training group, but not in the hierarchy because I can’t recommend myself for deployment.”

The Brazilian Lucas Perri (26), who was signed last winter, is the new goalkeeper, and in the summer Lyon also brought in a new number two in Rémy Descamps (28) a few days before the transfer deadline. Since then, Lopes has had to watch the games from the stands or in front of the TV. The situation was “very difficult to accept,” said the 14-time national player, who had no idea.

Lopes surprised by exclusion from Olympique Lyon

“Well, first of all, I would like to say that no one warned me that my place would be questioned. Clearly nothing was announced to me in January,” Lopes explained. This remained the same in the summer. “I wasn’t told anything, but I understood things.” So he was suddenly the only one who didn’t get any playing time in test matches. “Nobody has ever taken the time to talk to me, except the coach once or twice.” With Pierre Sage, however, it wasn’t a conversation from coach to player, but rather a conversation from man to man.

“I would rather set the record straight on this matter. After signing Rémy and not being in the team, I never imagined it would come to this. “You have to know that I have never been accused of anything in terms of sport or my involvement in training and in the dressing room,” explained Lopes. “But the reality is that I watch the games from my sofa today.” He cannot understand the club’s decision. “I don’t understand anything about it. I don’t think like that, so I can’t understand it. I didn’t receive any explanations.” He was never accused of anything in terms of sport.

Olympique responded to the interview in a statement and contradicted Lopes’ statements. The player and his advisor were “well informed about the situation and sporting developments”. The club assured him that it would provide him with the best possible support and make a change possible. Lopes would have been allowed to leave the club for free despite his contract until 2025, and Lyon would even have compensated for salary losses at a new club. But no solution was found.

Lopes could have left Olympique Lyon for a top club

“From the moment I realized that the club was no longer counting on me, I opened all the doors. My goal was to find a place as number one to continue playing and develop. But unfortunately there were no opportunities,” said Lopes, who was traded at FC Nantes, among others. “There were clubs that were interested in getting me as number one, but only on the condition that their number one left, which wasn’t the case. I waited until the last moment.”

After eleven years as a regular goalkeeper, a role as number two did not occur to him. “It’s true that I had some opportunities very early in the transfer window. “Especially one at a very big European club,” Lopes revealed. There was speculation about Liverpool’s interest. “To be honest, it wasn’t my goal to be number two at that point. But if it had happened at the end of the transfer window my choice might have been different.”

The support of the fans is the only support I have left at the club.

The fans seem to be on Lopes’ side. Recently, in the prestigious duel against Olympique Marseille (2:3), which was lost despite being outnumbered, there were supporting banners and chants for the goalkeeper, while successor Perri made a mistake in stoppage time. “Of course that touched me,” said Lopes. “That was balm for my soul. It’s indescribable. Everyone knows the relationship I have with them. (…) The support of the fans is the only support I have left in the club.”

Looking ahead to his future, Lopes’ first priority is to maintain his form. “I’m full of energy. (…) I feel at the peak of my abilities. This time will also allow me to regenerate physically and mentally so that I am in the best possible condition for the future,” he said. “Then I have to find a new challenge as quickly as possible because I miss the adrenaline on the pitch and the game. Nobody in the club can blame me for my commitment to training, I haven’t missed a single one, I’m always there with a smile, never sulky, even though I might be, but my personal situation shouldn’t have an impact on the collective. I have respect for the team and the employees. I never thought my end at OL would be like this, I imagined something different. But well, it is what it is.”