After the victory at the Parc des Princes against Paris Saint-Germain (1-0) on April 2, this sequence in the Championship gives a little flavor to the Lyon spring.

This is the first time that Laurent Blanc's men have won this season after being led to the mark... A relief, four days after the disappointment in the Coupe de France and the elimination in the semi-finals against Nantes (1-0), in the competition that was likely to offer them a ticket to the next Europa League in case of title.

Lyon, which climbs to 7th place pending the other meetings on Sunday, thus returns, eight days from the end, five lengths of Lille (5th), beaten in Angers Saturday (1-0) and three points of Rennes (6th) who concede their second defeat in a row after the one recorded against Lens, April 1 (1-0).

Yet things had not started well for OL, led in the 11th minute on a goal by Amine Gouiri, trained at OL, after a lost ball by Bradley Barcola.

It was the tenth goal in Ligue 1 this season for the former Lyon player who had never really had his chance as a professional before leaving for Nice.

Nice reaction from Lyon

In the first half, Lyon, still bruised by their elimination in the Coupe de France, showed no desire, giving reason to their groups of ultras supporters to boycott the match or at least to mark their indifference.

Deprived at the last moment of their goalkeeper Steve Mandanda, victim of a muscular alert, the Bretons have notably stood out, in addition to the goal of Gouiri, by attempts of Benjamin Bourigeaud (2, 22), Arnaud Kalimuendo (23) or Baptiste Santamaria (27).

Lyon's Alexandre Lacazette (right), scorer at Décine-Charpieu against Rennes on April 9, 2023 © JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK / AFP

And it is finally a miracle that Corentin Tolisso managed to equalize with a long shot lodged in the middle of the window, following a corner played by Maxence Caqueret (60), rewarding a slightly better start to the second half against a Rennes formation that abandoned the initiative of the game at OL.

Alexandre Lacazette then gave his team the advantage by taking a missed shot from Johan Lepenant (2-1, 68) to bring his total of goals in L1 to eighteen, before Barcola took a center back from Cherki for the goal of 3-1 (79), his fifth in Ligue 1.

"From what I saw in the second half, I opted not to make any changes. We often do it because we are not happy with certain things but when we are satisfied with the behavior of the eleven, we say why do it. It does not say that next time will be like this. It's not determined in advance," Lyon coach Laurent Blanc said.

But on his bench, several players at the end of their contracts also no longer feel concerned.

Anyway, these three goals came to reward a Lyon formation, amorphous in the first half of the match but which totally dominated after half-time to win its hundredth official match at Groupama stadium inaugurated in January 2016.

© 2023 AFP