Olympique Lyonnais put in place the ingredients to achieve a precious success against their Marseille rival this Sunday, on behalf of the 20th day of Ligue 1 (1-0).
It took a good dose of will, passion and affection for the two Olympics when diving into this Lyon-Marseille. Fallen big names of this 2023-24 season, these two strongholds of French football are not swimming in the same waters, but they are seeing trouble after a first part of the season very far from their standing.
Beyond this rather bleak sporting record, the specter of the excesses that occurred around the Vélodrome on October 29 was still in people’s minds. Another Olympico has been there since, but OM’s big victory (3-0) was not enough to erase the night of shame. She has barely awakened a taste for revenge among the Lyonnais.
So we were waiting for a football match, a real one. And we were at least served at that level. Its stake was as strong for OL as for OM – if not more. Still stuck at the bottom of the table, the Rhone club has pulled out all the stops to ensure its survival without trembling, by spending 56 million euros on the transfer market – emerging as the most spending club in Europe in this time of year – and by restructuring, too, to spread new skills to all levels. But this strategy should now bear fruit on the green rectangle, facing Marseillais who are hardly more dashing in 2024.
OL signs its best match in 2024
Pierre Sage and Gennaro Gattuso both had a wider range of choices, between winter reinforcements and international returns for Marseille. Where the Italian was able to rely on the Moroccans Harit and Ounahi to plug the holes in the midfield, his counterpart, who must wait a little longer before relying on all of his recruits, did not did not hesitate to make a decision by removing Cherki and Tolisso from the starting lineup. The standoff turned in his favor.
Coherent, consistent, if not really brilliant, the Lyonnais provided the necessary ingredients to have a good evening. However, everything could have gone the other way if Harit’s attempt had not crashed on the bar, after a few seconds (1st). But this alert united the Lyonnais, courageous in the use of the ball, generous in recovering it, and incisive around the surface, without reaching the heights of virtuosity. Alexandre Lacazette’s goal is the symbol of this self-sacrifice, as much as his signature this season. A true surface fox, the general showed his finishing instinct with a victorious tackled shot to deliver the Groupama Stadium half an hour into the game (1-0, 31st).
There was a lot of time left for the Marseillais to resurface, but this team did not have the resources to recover. She didn’t have Jonathan Clauss on kickoff, either. And when she was able to count on the French international after the break, in a burst of lucidity, perhaps, she was able to realize that life was a little easier. But it was not enough. Despite a more convincing second half, the Marseillais lacked the realism to hope for better, like this little ball from Aubameyang released at the last minute by Maitland-Niles (79th).
OL had the merit of letting the storm pass. And with a little more control, Pierre Sage’s men could have taken cover but Orban or Nuamah did not have the same relevance in the finish as in their percussion (51st, 54th). More generally, there has been a breath of fresh air from this OL, whose new faces should have a notable role to play in the maintenance mission. Fofana, who came into play, gave some tasty thrills.
The rest will tell if this encouraging overall performance will be a founding match for the Lyon season. For the moment, OL may be holding their benchmark match in 2024. That’s already it. It was necessary, in this homogeneous championship where the zombies who compete at the bottom of the table are still alive. HAS the stop, the Marseillais, for their part, will have to give a response quickly so as not to go through this phase back into a tunnel of indifference.
