Here is a derby that was eagerly awaited in the microcosm of Ligue 1. Olympique Lyonnais hosted AS Saint-Etienne at Groupama Stadium. An inevitably spicy encounter between two teams with different dynamics. Victorious in Metz (2-0) last Friday, OL triumphed over Juventus (1-0) on Wednesday in the Champions League. On the Stéphanois side, we were expecting a success that has been running away from the Greens since January 25th. For this poster, Rudi Garcia fielded a 4-3-3 with the Traore, Dembélé, Terrier trio. On the ASSE side, Claude Puel opted for a 4-4-2 with Diony and Bouanga in attack. From the first seconds, OL tried to put the rhythm into the match.
On the left, Terrier combined with Marçal which centered for Tousart. The middle of Lyon crushed his strike too much to worry Moulin (1st). Saint-Etienne replied eight minutes later with Honorat on the right which centered for Diony. The striker from Stéphane in the area, could not frame (9th). Suffering in the first half hour, the Greens suffered Rhone attacks and ended up giving up their arms. On a free kick struck by Terrier, Dembélé deflected the ball from the head and cheated Moulin (1-0, 27th). Galvanized by their openness, Rudi Garcia’s men kept the pressure on Stéphane’s goals. Guimaraes alerted Traoré whose pivot hit was caught by Moulin (33 ‘).
Moussa Dembélé offers a double
Returning from the locker room, Olympique Lyonnais did not loose the vice. Following a badly negotiated free kick by the Stéphane defense, the ball came back to Marcelo whose heavy shot went over (47 ‘). The Greens reacted timidly with Diony who took advantage of a ball badly negotiated by Marcelo to strike a beautiful shot well repelled by Lopes (50th). Claude Puel’s men finally showed up. On a ball lost by Guimaraes, Diony served Bouanga in the area whose strike was repelled by Lopes (58th). Shortly after the hour, OL thought they would make the break for Tousart, but the Lyon midfield goal was refused after consulting the VAR (64th). Six minutes later, Moussa Dembélé took advantage of a good clearance from Lopes to go behind the back of the Stéphane defense but came up against Moulin (70th).
Five minutes later, Olympique Lyonnais was scared off by a free kick kicked by Bouanga. Anthony Lopes stood on his line to save his family (75th). The refereeing still played tricks in Lyon since Toko Ekambi saw his goal refused for an offside position for Dembélé (80th). At the end of the match, OL missed the second goal on a counter. Guimaraes launched right side Toko Ekambi whose strike was repelled by Moulin (89th). In added time, Olympique Lyonnais were awarded a penalty kick from Kolodziejczak (90 + 4) by Toko Ekambi. Dembélé did not tremble and a Panenka deceived Moulin (2-0, 90 + 5). Thanks to their eleventh victory of the season, the Lyon players went back to fifth place in the ranking.
Find the film of the match on our live commented.