Ligue 1: Lyon, held in check in Lens (1-1), falls from the podium

Inconstant and clumsy, Lyon was hooked in Lens (1-1) and lost its place on the Ligue 1 podium in favor of Monaco, Saturday during the 31st day of L1.

Dull in the first period and ineffective after the break, the Lyonnais were punished by Jonathan Clauss, who concluded an action he himself had initiated (65th).

By dint of pushing, Paqueta ended up snatching the equalizer (80th) but this result does not suit OL, who even finished at ten after the exclusion of Islam Slimani at the end of the match (90th) .

On the podium since mid-December

Present on the podium since mid-December, the Rhone fell to fourth place, synonymous with the Europa League, after this draw.

With 61 units on the clock, they are now one point ahead of ASM, who beat Metz (4-0) on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, Lille (66 points) struck a blow by going to win on the lawn of PSG (1-0) to regain the lead of the championship with three lengths ahead of the defending champion.

Almost unable to produce play in the first period, Rudi Garcia's players raised their level after the break but were sorely lacking in realism against a very inspired Jean-Louis Leca in the Lensois goal.

The Sang et Or, who have extended their invincibility in L1 to ten games (4 wins, 6 draws), total 49 points and are sure to keep their 5th place, synonymous with European qualification.

But Marseille could return to a length in the event of success on Sunday against the Dijon red lantern.

Lyon monopolized the entry ball, but struggled to worry the promoted Artesian, well in place defensively and incisive against, like the attempts of Florian Sotoca (20th), Clauss (25th, 39th), Massadio Haïdara ( 44th) or Seko Fofana (46th).

Clauss still scorer

OL were even happy to see VAR cancel a goal from Lensois Cheick Doucouré, whose strike had been slightly deflected by Sotoca's arm, yet stuck to his body.

At the start of the action, Anthony Lopes had completely missed his recovery and this error almost cost him dearly (34th).

It was not until additional time in the first period to see a big Lyon opportunity: the shot from Memphis Depay, who had dribbled Leca, was pushed back to his line by Jonathan Gradit (45th + 1).

After the break, Lyon accelerated to make the difference but was sorely lacking in efficiency, like Karl Toko Ekambi, who did not frame his head (50th), before stumbling on Leca (56th), or by Tino Kadewere (63rd, 74th) and Depay (64th).

Paradoxically, the Lensois opened the scoring when they were suffering the most: Clauss, the fit man of RCL in 2021, nipped the ball in the feet of Maxence Caqueret, then was served in the depth by Kakuta and has placed the ball between the legs of Lopes with a nice strike (1-0, 65th).

The Gones did not give up and logically ended up equalizing in view of the large number of chances they enjoyed: Paqueta took advantage of a shot from Rayan Cherki blocked to relieve his teammates (1-1, 80th) .

But in such a tight title race, this result remains a poor performance.