A weekend of opportunities for OL. After the defeat of OM and the draws of Monaco and Lille, Lyon had to follow in the footsteps of Rennes, easy winners in Strasbourg this Sunday, to make a very good operation in the race for the Champions League. Problem, Les Gones were traveling on the pitch of Paris Saint-Germain, who have just crushed Liverpool in the quarter-final of C1 and who must win to relegate RC Lens, their runner-up, to four points at the top of Ligue 1. To achieve this, Luis Enrique decided to carry out a slight turnover to give his troops some breathing room after a grueling trip to Anfield. Thus, Beraldo, Zabarnyi, Mayulu and Ramos were started while Marquinhos, João Neves, Kvaratskhelia and Dembélé were left on the bench. For their part, OL, deprived of Sulc, Tolisso, Fofana or even Tagliafico, presented themselves at the Parc des Princes with a hybrid 5-3-2 with a Moreira-Endrick duo in attack.
From the outset, the people of Rhone were very willing. Much sharper in the duels, the latter obtained the first chances of the match. It was on one of them that Endrick opened the scoring. Found in the area by the spinning Moreira, the Brazilian didn’t ask any questions and adjusted Safonov with a beautiful shot which hit the post before going in (0-1, 6th). Stunned, the Parisians could not shake off their apathy and Lyon rushed to the attack to drive home the point. And after a superb acrobatic attempt from Abner, repelled by Safonov (12th), OL managed to double the lead. Launched in depth by Endrick, Moreira took the defense quickly before adjusting the Parisian goalkeeper (0-2, 18th). Stung in their pride, the Parisians accelerated to find the fault against the very compact bloc of the Rhone residents.
OL disgusted PSG
The first opening took place shortly after the half-hour mark. On a breakthrough from Lucas Hernández, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, author of a huge comeback a few minutes before against Barcola (29th), was guilty of a stupid foul on the former Bayern player. To convert this logical penalty, Gonçalo Ramos presented himself against Dominik Greif. Finally, helped by the Portuguese’s poor shot, the Slovak goalkeeper allowed OL to maintain their two-goal lead (33rd). With the awakening of Doué, the Gones were put in difficulty. The reed bent, but did not break thanks to real defensive solidity. For its part, PSG couldn’t do it, and Vitinha’s exit due to injury clearly didn’t help (38th).
Returning from the locker room, OL continued to defend the lead. Embarrassing for their opponents, Les Gones exploited each defensive flaw of their host to try to score a third goal, like this dangerous strike from Moreira, repelled by Safonov (55th). Faced with his team’s inability to find the fault, Luis Enrique decided to bring out the heavy artillery with the entries of Kvaratskhelia, Dembélé and Lee. Much more dangerous, the Parisians created opportunities with Kvara who forced Greif into a big save (62nd) and Dembélé who found the crossbar on a long shot (75th). Subsequently, Lyon was able to manage its lead in the score by showing enjoyable defensive solidity on the pitch of such an opponent. At the very end of the match, Kvaratskhelia punctuated his superb entry with a rather sublime goal (1-2, 90+3rd). Not enough to turn the table, however. With this prestigious victory, Les Gones climb to 3rd place and send a message to the competition: they will have to be counted on in the race for the Champions League. For its part, a silent PSG let Lens return to a small point. Despite their late match against Nantes, the Parisians feel the breath of Lens at their backs.
