After seeing the specters of last year hovering in the sky of Décines, theOlympique Lyonnais shifted into high gear. With 5 consecutive victories in all competitions, the Rhone club has definitively launched its season in recent weeks. And history will remember that the Europa League was its salvation, when nothing was working.
Pierre Sage’s team had performed flawlessly on its first two outings in this new C3 formula. Winners of Olympiakos at home (2-0), the Gones made a strong impression by giving a small slap to the Ranges, in Glasgow (4-1). This improvement called for confirmation against another team well established in continental games: Besiktas. It’s a failure. Showered by an arch-realistic Turkish team, the Gones were trapped in a fairly classic scenario.
Lyon not varnished
At the heart of an overloaded schedule, Pierre Sage’s choices were watched. The OL coach had opted for a mixed eleven. Lacazette, Cherki, Tolisso, Tagliafico and Perri were well aligned at the start of this match in a 4-2-3-1 formation. On the other hand, Fofana, Veretout and Caqueret were on the bench.
Lyon’s production was consistent, and in a normal world, OL should have had a quiet evening. But luck completely fled the Gones. Scorer at the end of a superb action initiated by Cherki, Lacazette saw his goal refused due to an offside by Tolisso (24th).
Besiktas pulls off the perfect heist
A few minutes later, OL obtained a penalty, finally canceled with video assistance (27th). Maitland-Niles, for his part, missed a huge opportunity before the break (37th). And just after the break, it was Benrahma who saw his curled shot hit the crossbar (56th).
After letting the storm pass, Besiktas came out of its torpor. The experienced Immobile also hit the woodwork (67th) and what was supposed to happen happened when Fernandes raced at the end to dampen the enthusiasm of Groupama Stadium with an express counterattack (71st). Despite a stifling end to the match, a shot from Zaha saved on the line (90th+1) and offensive coaching from Pierre Sage, OL were unable to resurface. A little break for this cycle team.
