Brest (AFP)

Lyon temporarily regained the lead in the championship by winning 3-2 in Brest after an unbridled match marked by big defensive errors for the Bretons on Friday at the opening of the 26th day of Ligue 1.

Beaten 2-1 by Montpellier last week, the Lyonnais thus return to Lille, which had done better than 0-0 against Brest last week and moved to Lorient on Sunday, but with a better goal difference, before a delicate passage next week in Marseille.

Brest, on the other hand, fell back into its defensive failures, while once again showing self-sacrifice and character to produce play and fail to equalize despite a 0-3 at halftime.

In a Francis-Le Blé stadium beaten by wind and rain, the Brestois started strong, with a strike from Romain Faivre which forced Anthony Lopes to relax from the first moments, even before the now classic shot of firecrackers and smoke from supporters behind the stadium at kick-off.

The Brestois continued to put the pressure on but a huge blunder from Sébastien Cibois quickly gave the Lyonnais the advantage: under pressure from Lucas Paqueta, the goalkeeper missed a hook on an innocuous handing over of his defense and left the Brazilian midfielder s '' grab the ball to push it into the empty goal (0-1, 9th).

Rudi Garcia's men then began to take control of the ball, while remaining at the mercy of fulgurances from Brest with counters led by Faivre (17th) or Franck Honorat (19th) or even a header from Steve Mounié (25th) .

But Lyon doubled the bet on a new Brest error: under the pressure of Thiago Mendes, Paul Lasne, who had been excluded in the first leg (2-2) lost the ball.

Served back to goal, Memphis Depay then found Houssem Aouar who arrived launched on the left (0-2, 29th).

- Quarter of an hour of fire -

Stunned, the Brestois saw Lyon take off on a new error by Cibois, who conceded a penalty by hooking Depay's feet as the ball went out.

With a transformation into power in the small net, the Dutch striker left no chance for the 22-year-old goalkeeper, trained at PSG, who was playing his 4th professional match, in place of Gautier Larsonneur, lacking success since January (0-3, 44th).

Far from giving up, the Brestois continued to attack, with a recovery of Honorat's right just above the frame (50th), before a head stung by Brendan Chardonnet, on a center of Honorat well offset by Faivre, does not come to reduce the score (1-3, 53rd).

Still lacking success, Karl Toko Ekambi wasted several opportunities to fold the match by letting Chardonnet come back on him (55th), crossing his shot too much (59th) and missing a duel with Cibois (63rd), while Tino Kadewere , entered shortly after the hour mark, found the post (73rd).

And Brest further reduced the gap thanks to Irvin Cardona, launched by Chardonnet in the back of the Lyon defense, who deceived Lopes with a shot from the right (2-3, 73rd).

What offer a last quarter of an hour of fire, with Lyonnais overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of their hosts.

But unlike the first leg in December in Lyon, where Olivier Dall'Oglio's men, reduced to 10, had equalized in the 93rd (2-2), the score has not changed.

© 2021 AFP