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Ligue 1 champions Lyon began training again yesterday with club captain Claudio Caçapa confident that the winter break has allowed them to recharge their batteries.
A 3-1 loss to Lille in their last outing suggested the build-up of matches at home and in Europe was beginning to take its toll, but Caçapa believes they are ready to get going again.
"It did us good to take 10 days off without thinking about football," he explained, as snow fell around the team's Toga-Vologe training complex.
"Coming back [from Brazil] and finding these conditions is a bit bizarre, but that's the way it is. The important thing was to enjoy the festivities with our families like everyone else.
"The Lille defeat is forgotten and now it's like another championship is about to start."
"We've got four intense months ahead of us with a lot at stake," added Coach Gérard Houllier. "There's a fifth title, the Champions' League and the Coupe de France.
"And most of my players have to stay at a high level if they want to go to Germany. That means four months of living like monks."
On the transfer front, Lyon have been linked with Sochaux forward Jaouad Zairi, but Houllier maintained that the club are unlikely to add to their squad during the January transfer window.
"The transfer window sometimes allows you to get some good bargains but it's rare," stated the former Liverpool boss. "There's already a lot of competition here, so there's no point adding to it."
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