Lyon logically won 2-0 at the expense of the Greek club Olympiakos Piraeus, Thursday at the Groupama stadium, in a match on the first day of the Europa League and thus succeeded in its return to the European scene.
We needed a victory to reassure ourselves. Lyon did it by winning against Olypiakos on Thursday evening, for their entry into the Europa League. In a ranking which brings together 36 clubs, OL are thus directly in the first half (7th) and will try to confirm on the road on October 3 in Glasgow against the Rangers (5th), winners of the Swedes of Malmö (2-0) .
Already a scorer on Sunday against Marseille despite the 3-2 defeat, Cherki, served by Ainsley Maitland-Niles, opened the scoring with a powerful shot despite a tight angle (65th). The young player (21 years old) makes a thunderous return to the Lyon team after being left out this summer while awaiting a transfer to Paris Saint-Germain, Dortmund or Fulham which never concluded.
Shortly after his goal, he was replaced by Saïd Benrahma who made the score 2-0 after a service from Wilfried Zaha, a last-minute transfer window recruit who entered at the same time as the Algerian international (65th). The two players as well as the American Tanner Tessmann, however, had been waiting on the sidelines for several minutes when Cherki scored.
Olympiakos harmless, Lacazette hits the post
In addition to Rodinei’s shot in the first period, the Greek team was only dangerous due to an action by Roman Yaremchuk blocked at the last minute by Duje Caleta-Car (49th) who scored against his side on a cross from Willian, a goal canceled for offside (89).
OL left the C3 on April 14, 2022 with a 3-0 home defeat to the English team of West Ham in the quarter-final second leg of the event concluded following incidents caused by the Lyon ultras which earned the club Rhone to be sanctioned with a closed session in its north and south bends.
Thus, only 24,414 spectators were present in the enclosure to see Lyon dominate a low-level Greek team against which Pierre Sage’s men still struggled throughout a soporific first period marked by numerous approximations on both sides. other.
During this, the two goalkeepers saved their side ahead of Corentin Tolisso for Kostas Tzolakis (26) and Rodinei for Lucas Perri (32). After half-time, OL were nevertheless much more dynamic and created several chances. A shot from Alexandre Lacazette, still looking for his first goal this season, hit the post (48th). David Carmo failed to score against his side (52) while Ernest Nuamah was blocked by Lorenzo Pirola (59). Tzolakis saved his team twice again in front of Tolisso (59, 64).
It is therefore a deserved success for OL who won for the second time this season after winning against Strasbourg (4-3) in the French championship in which Lyon (14th) has already lost three times for a null result. OL will have to confirm in Toulouse on Sunday in Ligue 1 in order to know if their season has finally really started.
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