By Pierre Serisier
LYON, France, March 8 - Coach Gerard Houllier said
that Olympique Lyon will have to learn play without
inspirational playmaker Juninho after they qualified for the
quarter-finals of the Champions League on Wednesday.
The outstanding Brazilian midfielder was booked for a
dangerous tackle on Ibrahim Afellay in the 12th minute of the
4-0 thrashing of PSV Eindhoven at Gerland stadium on Wednesday
and means he misses Lyon's next European match -- the first leg
of the quarter-finals.
"Juninho is a key player in the team but if you want to win
the Champions League like we do, you have to prove capable of
playing without your star players," Houiller said
afterwards.
"He is a star and he will be hard to replace," Houllier
said. "But before thinking about a replacement, I need to know
who we are going to take on and see if we play at home or away
first.
"When I see a match like tonight's I tell myself that there
are guys who underestimate what they are really worth," Houllier
said.
"There are several gifted guys in the team and I'm not
concerned."
Juninho said he considered the booking undeserved as he
didn't intend to harm Afellay. However, he was lucky not to
escape an even tougher punishment after tackling him with both
feet after he lost the ball.
"It's a shame because I didn't mean to play in a violent
way," Juninho said. "This yellow card comes at a bad moment for
me but we will have to accept it.
"Now, we just have to wait and see who we are going to face
in the quarter-finals," he said. "But we mustn't give it too
much importance.
"At this stage of the competition there are only big sides
left. They are all capable of reaching the final.
"We mustn't ask ourselves too many questions. We will have
to play favourites and try to beat them."