“It was like a Champions League game tonight. Maxence Caqueret, whom Europe had truly discovered during the Final 8 in Lisbon in August 2020, found the formula this Wednesday to gauge the performance of his team, victorious to everyone’s surprise in Porto (0-1). In an exciting round of 16 first leg of the Europa League, Olympique Lyonnais notably had the merit of imposing significant pressure at the start of the match.
“We weren’t afraid to play football, even outside, to set up a possession game, appreciates Peter Bosz. That was key, because if we had only played using the long balls, it would have been impossible to win here. There, we deserve to win. “Like an astonishing central hinge Castello Lukeba-Thiago Mendes, on which no one could have bet last summer for such a European shock, OL were able to stand up to one of the favorites of the competition , undefeated for a year and a half in the Portuguese championship.
“We were up to the fight”
“It was a match of fighters and we were up to the fight”, sums up Maxence Caqueret, still omnipresent in the midfield, behind a decisive Lucas Paqueta for his first big European meeting in the Lyon jersey. . Stunned after a huge shock with Pepe from the first minute of play, it was with a bandage on his head that the Brazilian attacking midfielder scored the only goal of the match, after valuable work in support of Moussa Dembélé (0-1, 59th). Peter Bosz was more complimentary than ever towards his star player.
For me, Lucas was extraordinary. He showed all his qualities tonight, he was really strong, and not because he scored. It is above all the work he has done as number 10 to keep the ball. He only made one mistake in the second half by wanting to do “a Zidane” at the limit of our 18 meters. But for the rest, he was amazing. »
Three favorable decisions thanks to VAR
Add to that three decisions initially unfavorable to OL (often unfortunate in this area this season in Ligue 1) having changed thanks to the use of VAR, and you have the cocktail of a European evening almost as tasty for Lyon supporters than a quarter of C1 against Manchester City (3-1), a year and a half earlier in Lisbon. Without video assistance, Lucas Paqueta’s goal would indeed have been canceled for a signaled offside by Moussa Dembélé, then Porto would have benefited from a penalty for a very limited handball from Paqueta in his area (63rd), and finally a goal from Mbemba disallowed in added time for an offside not signaled at first (90th + 5). Oh, such a perfect day…
All aware that this is “only a first step”, the Lyon players will be entitled to another funny poster, Sunday (5:05 p.m.) against Rennes, before this 8th final return, March 17 at the Parc OL. This evening at the Dragon stadium had all the same the appearance of a success in the making, and of a group finally found. “There are only good players in this team, so the connections are made naturally”, underlines the winter rookie Romain Faivre, without complex for the first European match of his young career. It has rarely been the kind of his new club to go through major continental meetings, it must be said.