In added time of the first period, Houssem Aouar had launched Moussa Dembélé towards the goal and his race crossed that of the left side Aaron Cresswell, whose arm unbalanced the attacker.

German referee Felix Zwayer immediately pulled out the red, to the fury of Hammers manager David Moyes and the entire London Stadium.

The wink then addressed by Dembélé to a teammate, captured by the English cameras, suggests that there was a certain dose of vice in the fall of number 9.

Before that, Lyon had shown a lot of "craft" or cunning by doing everything to annoy their opponent and slow down the game. Several times, the referee had to stop the match to let the Lyon trainers come to the aid of players on the ground.

Moyes, who told the referee what he thought of his performance in the first act, was also warned on the way to the locker room.

For its part, West Ham, who had been waiting to play again in the quarter-finals of European competition since a Cup and Cup encounter against Dinamo Tblilissi in 1981, had stuck to their rather wait-and-see tactics and the first 45 minutes had offered little reasons to be excited.

A tense cross from Lucas Paqueta for Dembélé who had not framed, at the near post (10th), and a breakaway from Saïd Benrahma concluded with a shot well repelled by Anthony Lopes (16th), had been all that resembled actions .

Attack-defense

The Londoners' shorthandedness only increased the attack-defense side of the game, but Lyon managed to shoot themselves in the foot by giving their opponent a goal on a plateau.

West Ham United coach David Moyes during the Europa League quarter-final first leg against Olympique Lyonnais on April 7, 2022 in London Glyn KIRK AFP

While OL had a six-yard in their favour, the ball was lost and Jerome Boateng failed to clear a pass from Pablo Fornals, before deflecting a shot from Jarrod Bowen, who was prowling in the box, outside of range from Lopes (1-0, 52nd).

It was not until Peter Bosz took a resolutely offensive option by replacing Romain Faivre with Tetê and especially Boateng with Karl Toko-Ekambi, shortly after the hour mark, that Lyon came back to score.

Two minutes after coming into play, a nice overflow from the Brazilian, whose low center was messed up by Alphone Aréola and Ryan Fredericks, allowed Tanguy Ndombele to score from very close (1-1, 66th).

OL then tried to force the Hammers lock again, but the strikes from Paqueta (78th) or Emerson (80th) did little to worry Areola.

If the score of 1-1 would certainly have suited the Lyonnais before the match, even without the away goal rule, it nevertheless leaves the confrontation completely open before the return in a week.

The English, taking into account the facts of the games, will also be satisfied with this draw which will allow them to keep their wait-and-see game on the return.

© 2022 AFP