Nantes (AFP)

Lyon painfully tore off their first victory of the season (1-0) against very catchy Nantes on Friday at the opening of the 4th day of Ligue 1.

Hanging at home by Brest (1-1) and Clermont (3-3) and dominated in Angers (3-0), the Lyonnais finally started their season thanks to a goal from Moussa Dembélé and the parades of Anthony Lopes.

If the Italian side Emerson, on loan from Chelsea, was the holder, the Swiss star Xherdan Shaqiri, arrived this week from Liverpool, remained on the bench and will make his debut after the international break.

But the exclusion at the end of the match of Damien Da Silva for a double warning still showed, despite the "clean sheet", the weaknesses of the defense.

With this victory, Lyon temporarily jumped from 16th to 6th place with 5 points, while Nantes downgraded from 9th to 10th place with 4 points.

The joy of Lyon striker Moussa Dembélé, author of the only goal in the Ligue 1 match against Nantes, on August 27, 2021 at the Stade de La Beaujoire Sebastien SALOM-GOMIS AFP

Despite the many absences in attack, the Nantes approached the match without complexes, a powerful strike from the rookie Osman Bukari even forcing goalkeeper Anthony Lopes to make a good save from the first minute.

But after 20 minutes of great intensity, the Lyonnais began to confiscate the ball and get more opportunities, starting with a strike from Houssem Aouar just above the cage of Alban Lafont (25th).

- The parades of Lopes -

Peter Bosz's men managed to materialize shortly after half an hour of play: launched in depth by Guimaraes, Lucas Paqueta got rid of his compatriot Fabio to find himself alone against Lafont.

The Nantes goalkeeper pushed back his shot but Dembélé finished the job at close range (0-1, 35 ').

Lyon striker Moussa Dembélé opens the scoring against Nantes, during their Ligue 1 match, on August 27, 2021 at the Stade de La Beaujoire Sebastien SALOM-GOMIS AFP

Far from being discouraged as they had done last week during their defeat in Rennes (1-0), the Nantes people are back on the attack.

Twice, the Lyonnais owed their salvation only to sumptuous parades from Lopes, first on a header from Jean-Charles Castelletto (37th) then on a free kick at the limit of the area pulled in power by Sébastien Corchia (43rd).

Driven by an enthusiastic public, the Nantes residents stepped up their assaults in the second half, but were unsuccessful in the last gesture.

And while Nicolas Pallois has extinguished many counter-attacks, Guimaraes, arrived alone in the area, missed his shot (67th) and Aouar collided with Lafont (70th).

The exclusion of Damien Da Silva for a double yellow card, each time for a hand on a Nantes face, complicated the situation for Lyon.

The entries on the Lyon side of Belgian defender Jason Denayer in place of scorer Dembélé and Nantes side of the wisp Randal Kolo Muani seemed to set the tone for the last quarter of an hour.

But after conceding 7 goals in the first 3 matches, Lopes was watching ...

© 2021 AFP