This Saturday evening, Olympique Lyonnais and Paris Saint-Germain met for a Coupe de France final which promised to be hot between the two best French teams in 2024. And while several unfortunate events had punctuated upstream of the meeting between the supporters of the two camps, this meeting was played in an incandescent Pierre-Mauroy stadium and slightly to the advantage of the Gones at the start of the match. However, on the field, the Lyonnais did not respond at all at the start of the match. For almost fifteen minutes, PSG was largely superior and a siege took place near the surface of Lucas Perri, author of several capital saves (5th, 9th). Slightly putting their foot back on the ball through a few sterile possessions, Lyon nevertheless quickly fell back into their ways. Unable to score in their first highlight, Luis Enrique’s gang did not make the same mistake twice. On a harmless cross from the left, Lucas Perri completely missed his exit, leaving plenty of time for Ousmane Dembélé to finish in the empty goal with a header (0-1, 22nd). Stunned, the Lyonnais were unable to get their thoughts back together and Fabian Ruiz allowed the Parisians to take the break after an offensive that was poorly repelled by the Rhone defense. At the end of a gloomy first act, OL returned to the locker room after having suffered the law of a PSG in control but with a timid Kylian Mbappé.
Lyon
1
55′
J. O’Brien
PSG
2
22′
O. Dembélé
33′
Fabian Ruiz
90+5′
Returning from the locker room, the match got back on a more exciting footing. OL, aware of the deficit displayed in the game and especially on the scoreboard, toughened their tone by being more incisive. And this new self-sacrifice has paid off for the residents of Groupama Stadium. On a corner from the right, Jake O’Brien, author of already so important goals this season, did it again by reducing the gap with a superb header which left Gianluigi Donnarumma no chance (1-2, 55th ). A goal which clearly ignited the Gones who rushed for several minutes on the Parisian goal. But while Achraf Hakimi took the ball away just in front of Lacazette’s head (61st), Nicolas Tagliafico, in the same position as O’Brien, was disgusted by a gala Gigio Donnarumma (65th). Attempting several absolutely necessary changes to revive an attack that was too often failing this evening, Pierre Sage brought in Malick Fofana, Ernest Nuamah and Ainsley Maitland-Niles who are used to changing the situation during their entries in recent weeks. However, these changes did not revive the amorphous Lyonnais who did not even make the effort to press during the last minutes of play. Not even going in search of this late goal, the Gones therefore confirmed their non-match, so frustrating when we know the importance of this meeting for the people of Lyon. At the end of a generally controlled match, PSG won the 15th Coupe de France in its history.
