At OL Park,
The two blunders chained in two minutes by Johann Lepenant, the point-blank recovery of Faitout Maoussa smashing the crossbar of his own goalkeeper, the kiss of Rémy Vercoutre to a blissful Bruno Cheyrou at the final whistle, Kayne Bonnevie and Anthony Lopes who carry in triumph Alexandre Lacazette, and obviously the heavy absence of meaning of Jean-Michel Aulas, as we had confirmation this Monday morning with the press release from OL Groupe formalizing his departure, after thirty-six years of presidency. The unusual, sometimes lunar moments were at the level of the maboulos scenario of this OL-Montpellier (5-4) on Sunday. We have chosen to tell you seven stories surrounding the probably craziest match of the season in Ligue 1, which saw the Lyonnais (7th), trailing 1-4 (55th), sign an unforgettable comeback.
- Two quadruplets in the same match, a first since 1974!
There had not been the slightest quadruple in Ligue 1 for almost five years, with in this case a certain Kylian Mbappé during a bleeding 5-0 against OL (well well). That is to say if we were already varnished to attend the master class of a scorer with full confidence. So imagine having two on the field going blow for blow? At only 20 years old, Elye Wahi found a way to score his four goals… in fifteen minutes of actual play, between the end of the first period and the start of the second (40th, 41st, 53rd, 55th). At 3-4, the great hope of the MHSC even came within a few centimeters of scoring his fifth goal (72nd), just before Michel Der Zakarian signed the oddity of replacing him with Valère Germain (80th).
And what about the quadruple (the first in career) of a transcended Alexandre Lacazette (31st, 59th, 82nd, 90th + 10)? It’s simple, it’s only the second time in 75 years in Ligue 1 that two opposing teams have seen one of their players score at least 4 goals (thanks Opta). The only precedent dates back to May 1974, during a Reims-Monaco (8-4) where a quintuplet from Carlos Bianchi for Reims and a quadruple from Delio Onnis for Monaco were combined. Similarly, Elye Wahi became with his mammoth match the very first player in MHSC history to score a quadruple in L1.
- Who says two quadruplets says two balloons to distribute?
As one always has in mind the pungent investigations to 20 minutes, we had a flash: how could the tradition of the match ball offered to the scorer scoring (at least) a hat-trick be applied in such an extremely rare case? Smiling, Alexandre Lacazette therefore answered us on the subject: “I think we will each have a ball, right? Logically that will be it, and then there are enough balls around the field. Like what at 7:45 p.m., it was strangely not yet the priority of the Lyon striker to recover his evening gift.
- Jordan Ferri lights up his teammates
The post-match gave us almost as much fun as the second period. Christopher Jullien opened the floodgates by pointing out “rookie mistakes” of his MHSC team, and considering this defeat as “one of the biggest disappointments” he has experienced in a long time. Yes yes, for a match without the slightest sporting stake for Héraultais 12th and saved. But the real punch line able to knock out a group is for Jordan Ferri.
The player trained at OL, scorer in the first match in the new stadium in Décines in 2016, thus dropped hot on Canal + after the match: “There are players who come in, do not help us and ruin our work “. Bim bam boom, Stephy Mavididi, Léo Leroy, Théo Sainte-Luce, Maxime Estève and Valère Germain, all of whom came into play in the second half, must have enjoyed this media outing to the highest degree.
- The arbitration controversy that is going well
In any epic match, a refereeing controversy is a basic rule, isn’t it (hello Deniz Aytekin)? At the end of added time, Bastien Dechepy was called by the VAR for a collision by Christopher Jullien on Alexandre Lacazette at the near post, after a cross from Rayan Cherki. “Lacazette is smart, he played well, immediately believes Michel Der Zakarian. If it’s for us, I don’t know if the referee is blowing his whistle. »
His defender Christopher Jullien, guilty according to the refereeing body, is on the same line: “I still have it in my throat. The penalty is a very big scandal. The referee looks at the VAR at the last moment, when the ball arrives, when Lacazette had been pulling me for ten seconds, catching me. If you use VAR, you have to watch him until the start of the action, when he is clearly the one catching me”. If Alexandre Lacazette maintains (not without malice) that there is, according to him, a penalty, Laurent Blanc has the merit of the franchise on the spot: “When I saw that the referee stopped the game, I wondered why. From my bench, I saw nothing at all”. A penalty that fell from the sky, and converted in the 90th + 10, when there was basically only five minutes of added time.
- The peno could not have been followed by Lacazette in case of failure
These interminable stoppages are linked to the head-to-head shock and bleeding combo Diomande-Estève (90th + 5) as well as the use of VAR therefore. But Bastien Dechepy slipped a rather strange data to Alexandre Lacazette, before he hit his penalty. “There was this pressure because the referee told me that if I didn’t score it was over, even if the goalkeeper pushed the ball back into play. So I knew I had to put it in the first time. “We would still have loved to hear the three whistles from the referee after a parade from Benjamin Lecomte in his six meters, without waiting to see if the ball was going to be recovered by a Lyonnais or a Montpellier player behind.
“There was not even the kick-off after, insists on this subject Laurent Blanc, dumbfounded. That’s rare, isn’t it? Everyone went off in all directions and I told myself that we were still going to kick off well. And no, there wasn’t, it’s the first time I’ve seen that, and it’s a pretty weird ending. “The quirks were indeed not lacking, Sunday at Décines.
- Laurent Blanc himself scored the penalty from a previous legendary 5-4
Who has not seen 78 times the summary of the OM-Montpellier August 1998, with Rolland Courbis chambering Loulou Nicollin at half-time, announcing/spoiling him a 5-4 success, while the Marseillais were down 0-4? “We only talk to me about this match,” smiled Sunday Laurent Blanc. Because like Alexandre Lacazette, Lolo White, then defender of OM de Courbis, had been responsible for hitting the winning penalty in stoppage time. And like his prolific striker, the “President” had not trembled, when the Vélodrome capsized. On the Lyon side, the most recent references to the ultimate crazy meetings took place in Gerland, with the 5-5 in November 2009 against OM and the 4-4 in February 2012 against PSG.
- The fresh moment with Bradley Barcola
This is the story of a young player who had managed to scratch 13 appearances (1 assist in the Europa League) last season with Peter Bosz. But no one, even among the most fervent followers of the Lyon academy, saw him explode in this way this season. At 20, Bradley Barcola’s first tenure in Ligue 1 this season coincided at the end of January with the hasty departure of Karl Toko Ekambi, but also of Romain Faivre and Jeff Reine-Adélaïde. Since then, he has amazed Laurent Blanc with his qualities of speed, verticality, generosity and precision in the surface. His five goals and six assists in three months speak volumes about his crucial contribution to the revival of the Lyon attack.
He even offered himself… a hat-trick of assists on Sunday, a rare performance. Just like his really refreshing speech: “Three assists is exceptional. Honestly, I didn’t expect to score goals at all, to play so much. A few months ago, I really didn’t think about that. And in the coming weeks, his training club will undoubtedly have to fight during the transfer window to keep him. So goes our Talent League, sometimes as crazy as an OL-MHSC ready to remain in everyone’s memory.