The Lyonnais relaunched their race towards Europe by beating the slightly too soft Lorient 4 to 1 on Friday in the opening match of the 27th day of Ligue 1.
© AFP
Lyon striker Romain Faivre scored twice once morest Lorient.
In addition to the full points, the Gones were full of confidence, with an attack boosted by a double from Romain Faivre and achievements from Moussa Dembelé and Karl Toko Ekambi, while on the Lorient side, Terem Moffi showed that he might still roar.
Ideal conditions also for the return of Jeff Reine-Adélaïde, who entered at the end of the match to the applause of his teammates, 13 months following his serious knee injury.
It now remains for Peter Bosz’s men to confirm this renewed form once morest more seasoned opponents, with in the next 10 days the double confrontation with Porto in the round of 16 of the Europa League and the reception of Rennes.
Very quickly dangerous, the Lyonnais quickly took the advantage when Lucas Paquetà, with his back to goal, slipped the ball to Romain Faivre, who scored his first goal in the Lyon jersey with a shot from the left (0-1, 6th ).
Christophe Pélissier’s men did try to react but Lyon’s pressing, especially in midfield, deprived them of air.
And on a ball stolen from captain Laurent Abergel, Emerson, well offset by Faivre, served Moussa Dembelé, who doubled the bet with a very nice aerial heel (0-2, 26th).
Double Faivre
Refusing to give up, the Lorient people gradually approached the Lyon goal, until a victorious header from Terem Moffi (1-2, 57th).
It is only the 4th goal of the season for the Nigerian striker, a great architect of maintenance last season but lacking in success this season. Powerful and technical, he gave the Lyon defense a hard time but still often lacked precision.
The hopes of some 13,500 Lorient supporters were quickly dashed when Karl Toko Ekambi, relying on Dembelé, came to find a closed angle between goalkeeper Matthieu Dreyer and his left post (1-3, 59th).
And Faivre drove the point home: launched in depth by Houssem Aouar, the young attacking midfielder lobbed Dreyer with a small stung ball (1-4, 78th). Arrived in January in Lyon, he is definitely at ease at Moustoir since in November, he had already scored in Brest’s victory at Lorient (2-1).
Last week, the Merlus had revived by going in turn to beat Brest at the Francis Le Blé stadium (1-0), a first away victory in a year and a half, which had allowed them to leave the area. Red.
With only two points ahead of the last 4, they are far from out of the woods and will have to continue to fight next week in Clermont.
Tenth following their defeat last week once morest Lille, tainted by a refereeing error once morest them, the Lyonnais go back to 6th place temporarily, 5 points from the podium, their objective still displayed.
