At OL Park,
For Lyon supporters, https://twitter.com/OptaJean/status/1732523133041619073 published on social networks by the reference account Opta Jean, on December 6, 2023 at 11:11 p.m., will remain the equivalent of the 0% chance of a comeback for Barça in 2017 after the 4-0 won at the Parc des Princes. The text was then clear: “None of the last 14 teams to have scored 7 points or less after 14 matches in a Ligue 1 season has escaped relegation at the end of the year, since Sète in 1947-1948”. Suffice to say that almost halfway through, the John Textor era was already destined to be written in Ligue 2 from August 2024.
This Monday morning, Olympique Lyonnais is nevertheless 8th in the championship, with a hold acquired by whistling for several weeks (15 points ahead of the play-off player). It is even just two lengths from RC Lens (6th), and tied with rival Marseille (7th). The mirage of European qualification has thus become a concrete objective for good, since another stunning success on Sunday against AS Monaco (3-2).
“It gives a little pride all the same”
Apart from the untouchable French champion Paris (4-1 a week earlier), nothing can resist this OL. Euphoric runner-up to PSG when they presented themselves at Décines on April 14, Stade Brestois had only lost one of their last 17 Ligue 1 matches. However, they ended up cracking after an unreal scenario (4-3) , after leading by two goals twenty minutes from time. New second in the championship, ASM arrived on Sunday full of certainties, with six wins and two draws for two months in the championship… and an opening score after 21 seconds at Parc OL thanks to Wissam Ben Yedder (1-0) .
That’s not enough either, the Pierre Sage gang thus offering themselves in quick succession the scalps of two Top 3 teams in full swing. And “with style”, as the astonishing young Lyon coach rightly salutes. “It still gives you a bit of pride to be able to put together good performances against opponents of this quality,” he relishes.
“We never give up”
Between the ambitious high pressing seen in the first period on Sunday, the “variety of offensive play” and this ability to “attack at any moment of the match”, OL 2024 no longer has anything to do with its predecessor from the first leg. (31 goals in the last 17 Ligue 1 matches, compared to 11 in the first 14 days). Add to that the extraordinary ability of this group to overturn poorly started matches…
“ We showed our character again this evening, underlined Duje Caleta-Car, Sunday on Prime Video. This team is really crazy, we never give up and we ultimately deserve our victory. »
Second best record in the championship (2 points on average per match!) in the return phase behind PSG, OL perhaps turned their season around on February 11 in Montpellier (1-2), even more than with a prolific winter transfer window. Because for the first time in 2023-2024, Alexandre Lacazette’s teammates won (in a landslide) a match where they were (badly) led (1-2 while there was 1-0 at the end). 70th).
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“We owe it to our supporters”
Pierre Sage confirmed this on Sunday evening, while such a reversal has become routine for two months (from 1-0 to 1-2 in Metz, from 2-1 to 2-3 in Toulouse and from 1-0 to 1-2 in Nantes, even before these major successes against Brest and Monaco). “Honestly there is no miracle cure, but I think that the fact of having done it once made us aware that it was possible,” explains the former director of the OL training center, promoted on the front line after the departure of Fabio Grosso. And there against Monaco, it’s the first time we’ve had so much time to turn around a match. »
And yes, that’s the advantage of being air-conditioned from the 21st second of play: in the 26th minute of play, Alexandre Lacazette and Saïd Benrahma put Lyon back in front (2-1), before the young Malick Fofana (19 years old ) scores the winning goal on a supersonic counterattack (3-2, 84th). If he negotiates his trips to Lille and Clermont well, before hosting Strasbourg on May 19 for the final day, OL could well return to Europe, after two seasons of drought. “We see that we are gaining momentum, we continue to do great things and we have three games left to grab this 7th place, or even more,” analyzes Corentin Tolisso.
Because this 7th place would guarantee a Europa Conference League play-off for the Lyonnais… unless they even obtain their ticket for the Europa League in the event of an exploit against PSG on May 25 in the final of the Coupe de France in Lille. Marked by the “extraordinary” atmosphere of a sold-out OL Park on Sunday (55,539 spectators), Corentin Tolisso concludes: “We owed it to our supporters to go to the final of the Coupe de France. But with what happened at the start of the season, we also owe it to them to try to qualify for a European Cup. It would really be something exceptional.” As much as seeing a declared contender for the Champions League score a victory after 14 days of Ligue 1, we admit it.
