At OL Park,
Lyon goalkeepers Kayne Bonnevie and Anthony Lopes took turns carrying him in triumph, then his friend Corentin Tolisso (suspended) pretended to put a crown on his head. Nicknamed “the General” since his return to his training club last summer, Alexandre Lacazette allowed Olympique Lyonnais to experience their greatest emotion of the season this Sunday, after a royal performance. His full year was already almost complete, especially when we know that the 30-year-old was coming out of five mixed seasons with Arsenal (71 goals in 206 games, including only four in the Premier League in 2021-2022). But there, the Lyon supporters have completely found the one who has written the most beautiful pages of the club over the last ten years.
The hat-trick in the last derby (3-0) in 2015 at Gerland was him, the first goal in the history of Parc OL in 2016 (4-1 victory against Troyes) too, just like this prodigious kick cannon against AS Roma (4-2) in 2017 and this trophy for top scorer and best player in Ligue 1 in 2015. On Sunday, when his team sank with each scratch of the Montpellier prodigy Elye Wahi, author of A quadruple in fifteen minutes (1-4, 55th) and the north turn chained offensive banners and whistles, Alexandre Lacazette embarked all his teammates on his back.
“This quadruple, I will remember it all my life”
Already author of a victorious half-volley after a clinical sequence in the first period (1-0, 31st), the native of Lyon went into a trance as during the crazy comeback (unfinished) in the semi-final of the Europa League against Ajax Amsterdam (3-1) six years earlier. “We weren’t in the game, we lacked rhythm, technical precision, movement so inevitably, there are a lot of players who thought it was over at 1-4, recognizes the person concerned. But I believed in it and I wanted the public to follow us. I knew we could pack the game by scoring quickly. And there, something happened…”. Five minutes after what seemed to be Elye Wahi’s coup de grace, the Lyon captain therefore emerged to push a caviar from Bradley Barcola (2-4, 60th) to the bottom, and score what will remain the goal of hope able to change everything.
What followed was an unexpected whim from Dejan Lovren (2-4, 70th), then a new perfect connection between Bradley Barcola (20) and his mentor (3-4, 82nd). Before this call from the VAR to come back to a clash between Christopher Jullien and the hero of the evening. He thus had a golden opportunity to tip (a little) the fate of this gloomy Lyon season, by replacing his team three points from the last European place (Losc, 5th), four days from the end. Given the confidence that the guy exuded, there were not many people to consider a failure at the stadium. “Ah yes, it was safe, eyes closed, I knew he was going to put it,” laughs Bradley Barcola. An unstoppable mine later, it was therefore madness on the lawn of the Parc OL, under the eyes of a John Textor finally witnessing a Lyon success in Ligue 1.
I came back to experience these kinds of emotions, says Alexandre Lacazette. I am happy to have the confidence of the club, the players and the supporters. There are also difficult moments, so this one, you have to savor it. This quadruple, I will remember it all my life. »
More goals this season than Giroud in three years
It is no coincidence that this quadruple falls at the moment, in such an auspicious period for him (14 goals in the last 13 Ligue 1 games). “Physically, he has reached a new level, believes Laurent Blanc. He’s very solid and he’s going very very fast at the moment, and that helps him a lot in the box to create space and make calls. Let him stay like that because he will still score goals. The regularity of the current co-top scorer of the season (24 goals, like Kylian Mbappé) is stunning in the championship, since he has slammed the bar of 20 pawns in each of his last four years in Ligue 1. what do you deserve to get a question about his 127th consecutive absence from the France team during Didier Deschamps’ next press briefing, right?
After all, Alexandre Lacazette has now scored more since this summer than one of his “competitors” in the blue jersey, Olivier Giroud, in his last three combined seasons in the league (with Chelsea and AC Milan). The former Gunner does not hide it, he intends to “annoy” Kylian Mbappé until the end in the race for this individual distinction: “It’s nice, but what interests me the most is to help the team like I did today”.
“Alex never stopped encouraging us”
No, it’s not a fake altruistic speech agreed as we have seen so much in professional football. His young partner Bradley Barcola supports: “Alex never stopped encouraging us and pushing us on every action. He really is our leader. We are very lucky to have him, because game after game, everything he does is incredible”. It was necessary to find a discordant voice in this concert of praises after the match.
“This penalty is a very big scandal, he had been pulling me for ten seconds, catching me and the VAR only looks at the end of the action”. So, was there really a penalty? “For me yes, there is a penalty”, insists the number 10 Lyonnais, who was then made aware of the words of Christopher Jullien. “Ah, is it because of the VAR then? I haven’t seen the images so I don’t remember them, ”he concluded with a bright smile. That of a kid who has just experienced the first quadruple of his professional career, at almost 32 years old.