After a first hitch in Seville against Betis a few weeks ago (0-2), Olympique Lyonnais revolted brilliantly to resume their march forward in this regular phase of the Europa League. Paulo Fonseca must deal with a real massacre in his squad, but the eleven lined up this Thursday in Serbia gave him the best answer, three days after a very dull performance in Auxerre (0-0).
The Lyonnais never really trembled because they knew how to make their task easier by breaking the situation very early. Abner, on the verge of offside, concluded a nice collective movement on OL’s first offensive (0-1, 4th). The scorer then put on his smuggler’s costume to give Tolisso a caviar on the break goal (0-2, 26th). OL rolled forward to definitively seal their victory at half-time, Niakhaté authoritatively converting a penalty obtained by Sulc (0-3, 35th). The second act was a formality for Fonseca’s men, whose victory turned into a correction. Untenable, Tolisso went for his hat-trick by scoring two new goals in three minutes (51st, 53rd), while Karabec also found the net in this Lyon highlight (62nd). The score is no longer changed. OL take control of the ranking.
Strasbourg makes a big move
For its part, the Racing Club de Strasbourg was up against a big challenge since Crystal Palace, fifth in the Premier League, presented itself at Meinau. Despite a convincing start to the match, Liam Rosenior’s players gradually let the British team take the upper hand tactically, before a logical opening score from Mitchell (0-1, 35th). But the Alsatian club found the physical and mental resources to resurface. Well served by Moreira, Emegha did not tremble to equalize in the second half (1-1, 53rd). Better still, El-Mourabet gave the Alsatians the lead again at the start of the last quarter of an hour, scoring his first career goal with his training club (2-1, 77th). An advantage that Racing carefully preserved until the final whistle.
