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The 2009-10 French Ligue 1 season kicks off this weekend, and seven time champions Olympique Lyonnais will travel to the Stade Leon-Bollee to take on Le Mans in their opening fixture. Watch how Lyon cope without Juninho and Karim Benzema from your control panel at the Live Sport Network.

Lyon won the French championship a record seven times between 2002 and 2008, but the Rhone Valley outfit had to settle for a third placed finish in the league last season. Bordeaux wrested the crown away from Stade Gerland, while bitter rivals Olympique Marseille finished second. They also failed in their defence of the Peace Cup as they were knocked out of the group stages of the tournament.

As mentioned above, Lyon will be without two of their mainstays- Juninho and Karim Benzema this season. However manager Claude Puel has dipped into the transfer market to reinforce his squad. Aly Cissokho and Michel Fernandes Bastos have been brought in to strengthen the left flank. Frederic Piquionne has been loaned out to Portsmouth, and Lyon have a new look strike force in the form of Lisandro Lopez and Bafetimbi Gomis.

Le Mans finished 16^th in the table last year with 40 points from 34 games. It was a disappointing season for MUC 72, given the fact that they had finished 9^th the season before. Manager Paulo Duarte has signed Joao Andrade from FC Porto to replace the departing Paulo Andre.

Le Mans have done quite well in their pre-season friendlies. They managed to hold reigning UEFA Cup champions Shakhtar Donetsk to a 1-1 draw, and beat Greek outfit Panthrakikos 3-1 in their last friendly game.

Can OL get off to a winning start this weekend against Le Mans? Watch Le Mans vs Olympique Lyon live to find out.