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An Instagram photo of Lyon and France forward Eugenie Le Sommer from July shows her standing, thumbs up to the camera and beaming in front of a sign that places her on Col de L’Iseran — the highest paved path in the Alps.
Swipe right and you get a younger, slightly blurrier Le Sommer in the exact same place 10 years earlier.
It is a testament to Le Sommer’s fitness and success at Lyon that the 31-year-old looks as happy to be at the top with her squad — after an 11 kilometre ascent on a bike at high altitude — in 2020 as she did in 2010.
The behemoths of European football, Lyon haven’t played since March after the French government instructed all sport to cease. The decision handed the club their 14th Division 1 Feminine title but forced them to wait to see if they could add a fifth consecutive Champions League title.
“It was really weird and it was a hard situation I have to say for me because everything was stopped,” Le Sommer told ESPN. “You can’t train again. You can’t play a game and you need to stay at home. Nobody does that normally.”
The training regime at Lyon is notoriously hard-working and unforgiving. Lyon president Michael Aulas has never been quiet about wanting to create the best club in the world and his biggest success has come with the women’s team.
Offering competitive contracts, the team has attracted the world’s best footballers both through its notoriety and the individual drive of every player to be the best. The squad contributed more Ballon d’Or nominees to the 2019 list than any other club with Lucy Bronze and Dzsenifer Marozsan eventually just being pipped by OL Reign’s Megan Rapinoe.
“It was the hardest training of my life,” Le Sommer said of coming back into that environment after the shutdown.
“Sometimes on social networks you think it is really fun but we didn’t post some situations where it was really hard and you need to run and you can’t run anymore.
“We were pretty proud after this because it was really hard. Like some few days it was three sessions a day. Hard sessions. So we were really proud and it was really interesting for the team.”
After 10 years at the club, however, Le Sommer has come to a crossroads. Her contract is up in June 2021 and with time to think during the lockdown her attention has wandered to other leagues.
Since joining Lyon in 2010, Le Sommer has become the club’s top goal scorer and helped the team to 10 Division One Feminine titles and six Champions League trophies.
“I don’t know what will be happening with my future,” she said. “I really don’t know. I am thinking about it and I want to make a good decision for me.
“Since 10 years in Lyon, I have a lot of teammates and I speak to my teammates and it’s really nice to discover another country and as a culture and as a way to play football so for this reason maybe I want to see another country.
“When I see my teammates, it’s a good experience for them. So sometimes I want to be at a disposition to know the feeling but I really don’t know.”
Le Sommer’s decision on where her future lies could as much be about her international career as her club one. While she’s seen immeasurable personal success with France — she is closing in on the all-time goal scoring record — she has yet to replicate it in the form of trophies.
The 2019 World Cup was seen as one of the country’s best opportunities to win a trophy with the tournament on home soil but a meeting with eventual winners the U.S. Women’s team in the quarterfinals saw those hopes shattered.
The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in a rejig of the sporting calendar across the world and one of the early casualties was the Euros. Facing into a summer clash with the men’s tournament and the Olympics, the decision was taken to postpone it until 2022. An understandable but frustrating decision for someone like Le Sommer who will be 33 when the tournament eventually takes place.
“For France, for me, it is two years without competition because we don’t have the Olympic Games. It will be hard,” she said.
“I can’t wait for the Euro. It is in 2022 now but I really want to go there to win something. So we have had three years to prepare it and be good. That is the most important for me in the next few years.”
With starting spots in Lyon tight, especially among the forwards, a move elsewhere would likely provide Le Sommer with as many minutes as she needs to be fit and ready for the Euros and the 2023 World Cup — which she has every intention of attending too.
“We think it is long and it is far but it was fast like this and the four years, I didn’t see the four years. I am happy it is in Australia because it is a nice country and I have never been there. So maybe it will be my first time.”
For now, however, she is focusing on the club she is with. Lyon have a Coupe de France semifinal against Guingamp on Aug. 2, and possibly a final, before facing Bayern Munich on Aug. 22 in the Champions League quarterfinal.
Bayern have had the more favourable run into the tournament with the Frauen Bundesliga being one of the few women’s leagues to restart during the pandemic thanks to a financial package from the men’s league.
History is on the side of Lyon though who are the most successful team in the competition’s history and also boast its top scorer in Ada Hegerberg.
“My feeling is I can’t wait to play Champions League because it is something special,” she said.
“We just prepare for this goal and we had the camp with the team and it was very good to be together, to train hard together. So now for me it is like a normal precedent and we prepare to have the next game.
“Normally we start the season not with the big games but this is special this year because we need to prepare well to be good the first day.”