LFP: "Our lawyers thought it was better to attack the League than the State" (J-M Aulas, O.Lyonnais)

"Our lawyers thought it was better, rather than (legally) attacking the State directly for the decision to stop the Championship, to go after League. So the lawyers say to attack in this direction," stated Jean-Michel Aulas, president of Olympique Lyonnais, on the French sports media lequipe.fr, on 04/09/2020, regarding the legal brief for compensation of €117.7m that the club is claiming from the LFP due damages linked to the permanent cessation of the 2019-20 Ligue 1 Conforama Championship effective on 30/04/2020 due to the Covid-19 health crisis.

"Myself, I would not have done this, but it was our legal team who said that it was better to go through the League, to have them tell us (in court) that they were not responsible, but that it was the State's decision (Édouard Philippe, then French Prime Minister, announced on 28/04/2020 that the French professional football championships would not be able to resume). This is somewhat linked to procedural aspects, and I am not a lawyer. We have serious damages. The stoppage of competitions in France has been detrimental to the big…