Despite Lyon coasting to a record sixth French title in a row last season, Govou claimed in an interview in the monthly Lyon Mag that the club's form dipped in the second half of the season due to deteriorating morale.

"The club had difficulties managing the egos. There were many relationship problems in the team," he said. "The worst was concerning Juninho.

"From the beginning of the season Gerard Houllier (the coach) and Jean-Michel Aulas (the president) decided to proclaim Juninho as the star of the team. Personally I didn't care but that posed many problems for some of the team's main players."

Govou, who is one of Lyon's highest earners despite scoring a solitary league goal last season, slammed the preferential treatment handed out to Juninho.

"In the end we understood that there was him and the rest. That ended up damaging what had made Lyon strong over so many years: group unity.

"Throughout the years we built up a family at Lyon but this last season that was no longer the case. There were more egos. And a large part of the problem was Juninho."