At the Parc des Princes,
Olympique Lyonnais had almost gotten used to it. After a catastrophic start to the season, which saw it make friends with the relegation zone for a few months, OL had found some color since the arrival of Pierre Sage on the bench. Better, for six matches, in all competitions, Alexandre Lacazette’s teammates had not lost. So, leaving the Parc des Princes with a large suitcase could have made them fall back into disaster.
Nope. With eighth place and 41 points on the clock, Les Gones are far from the red zone. “We were clinically dead, the funerals were almost organized,” reacted Lyon coach Pierre Sage at a press conference. One day we got up and, to everyone’s surprise, we started walking and then we ran a little. It is not the defeat which should call into question this entire journey. »
European ambition
Especially since in the back of the minds of “Stone Wise” and all OL supporters, this first match against PSG was not really the most important. The one who arrives in a month at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Lille, for the Coupe de France final, will be more so. But can this undress at the Parc des Princes have an impact on this match which could qualify, miraculously given their start to the season, the Lyonnais for Europe?
“We are trying to compete in a European Cup and we have two challenges to overcome, we can do it both in the championship and in the Cup,” explained Pierre Sage. If we had won tonight [dimanche], it would have been very good for us, but the fact of having lost does not call into question this ambition at all. » But, in particular facing Monaco and Lille in the next two matches, not sure that the Ligue 1 route is the easiest to hope to travel to the Old Continent.
So, what to remember for the final?
- A five-man system much more reliable defensively: Pierre Sage, who had aligned a very offensive 4-2-3-1, hammered it after the match, OL had a lot of problems, in the first period, managing Barcola on the left and, to a lesser degree, the Kolo Muani-Hakimi duo on the right. “We lose on our defensive play. We didn’t know how to manage the wide positions and we couldn’t organize ourselves between our full-backs and our wingers. I regret not having been able to adapt more quickly. » The technician waited for the break to take Benrahma out and bring Mata in as a third central defender. As a result, the sides were much less porous and PSG did not create any chances in the second half.
- Wasted opportunities: against PSG, there aren’t a thousand solutions, you have to be lethal when the opportunity presents itself to you. And, on Sunday evening, the Lyonnais often wasted great opportunities. In the first half, Lacazette came up against Donnarumma, Nuamah hit the post and Benrahma found the perimeter. After the break, Caqueret had a huge one-on-one opportunity, which was also missed. “I remember that we had a good match offensively, we created a lot of situations, we could have scored more goals,” said Pierre Sage. The score is a bit heavy considering what we delivered offensively. »
- No psychological advantage taken by PSG: The few Lyon players who stopped, briefly, in the mixed zone after the match, reiterated that this full-scale rehearsal would be used in preparation for the final. “We must quickly forget,” said Malick Fofana. It’s a very big club, we know that, but if we play well, we can hurt them. Even here, we saw it. It will help us, we know what to expect, and we will work on it. » Same optimism for Henrique, the left back: “We know that we can do better, but it’s not worrying, we know that we have to work again, we will raise our heads. »
Look up, too, to see the names that will be ticked on the match sheet on the day of the final. We would bet if half of the Parisian team which will be fielded in Lille will have changed compared to this domestic clash, notably with the tenure of Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé. And Alexandre Lacazette, speaking to Prime Video, is well aware of this: “We totally know that these are two different matches, a final is completely different, even their team will be different. » We hope, for the General and the OL followers, that the score will also be different.