OL reassures. After a failed and lost first game 2-0 against the Glasgow Rangers on Thursday for the first day of the Lyon Tournament, Olympique Lyonnais, with a Memphis scorer, won 2-1 on Saturday against Celtic.
Garcia lines up a typical team
Unlike the match against the Rangers, OL lined up against Celtic a team that can be described as "type". The contrast is striking and once again demonstrates that the Lyon workforce lacks depth. There are incumbents, on the one hand, and extra players, at best, or alternates. And the whole lacks leaders, a finding often emphasized by sports director Juninho since his return to the club a year ago. Rudi Garcia, who can therefore count on a dozen good players, was confirmed again on Thursday.
Saturday, he abandoned 4-2-3-1 to successfully adopt a device in 3-5-2 with Marcelo, Jason Denayer and Fernando Marçal in central defense, Léo Dubois and Maxwel Cornet as lateral backs, Bruno Guimaraes , Thiago Mendes, Houssem Aouar in the middle. In attack, Moussa Dembele and Memphis Depay were associated. They are the ones who allowed OL to lead 2-0 at halftime.
Dembélé finds the light
Dembélé took over from the header at the far post a center delivered from the left wing by Marcelo to open the scoring in the 4th minute while Depay cleverly deviated from a Madjer heel pass from Dubois, shortly before mid- time (40th). The Dutchman, who also found the crossbar (54th), had already scored four times at Evian on July 1 against the Swiss amateur team from Port-Valais (12-0). However, apart from his goal, the former Manchester United player, seriously injured in a knee on December 15 against Rennes, seemed sometimes at a loss of pace despite his efforts. "He needs playing time but it's encouraging to see him already at this level," said Rudi Garcia.
Overall, OL displayed good cohesion with a compact team block and consistency between each line. Garcia advocated stability by making only two changes at the end of the game, Marçal and Cornet leaving their place to Kenny Tete and Youssouf Koné. At the end of the game, Lyon could however have avoided conceding a goal signed Mohamed El Younoussi, who took the best on Marcelo (87th). "It is a regret when we should have won more widely if we had converted our opportunities," said Garcia, who judges his team "on time for its preparation".
PSG in two weeks
By displaying a conquering and consistent attitude, OL have gained confidence two weeks to face PSG in the final of the League Cup. Until then, the Rhone club has yet to play two final friendly matches. It will be in Belgium, in Ghent against La Gantoise, and Antwerp against Antwerp, on July 22 and 24. For his part, the Parisian ogre will have disputed the final of the Coupe de France against Saint-Etienne, on July 24.
"No need to worry," says Garcia ... Can this Lyon be ready for PSG and Juve?
Bad Gones give caregivers their places for the preparation game against Celtic Glasgow
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