Pierre Sage, OL coach, comforts Malick Fofana and Georgres Mikautadze (Photo by FRED TANNEAU / AFP)
Out injured against Fenerbahçe, can Malick Fofana hold his place in the OL group in Nantes? After announcing a certain absence Thursday evening, Pierre Sage was less categorical this Friday.
Slow motion of the duel between Malick Breathe et Bright Osayi-Samuel was somewhat forgotten Thursday evening on television. However, you only had to see the Belgian winger writhing in pain to understand that the contact was not benign. So much so that Breathe was forced to give up his place to Alexandre Lacazette even before the end of the first half against Fenerbahce. After the draw in Türkiye, Pierre Sage had instead sent a negative message concerning the situation of his player, arguing that the Belgian would be “a time away from the field.”
His absence Nantes Sunday (5:15 p.m.) therefore seemed to leave no doubt. Did the Istanbul night work miracles? Perhaps not, but the suspense seems in any case to be revived on the presence or not of Malick Breathe. “He was working better this (Friday) morning than yesterday evening, we will evaluate him today. He may be unavailable but it is not yet guaranteed”declared the Lyon coach.
Nuamah 'will definitely get better'
Sans surprise, Malick Breathe was not present at today's training, only a few minutes after the Lyon delegation set foot in Lyon after a long plane journey. There weren't many of them for this session anyway. The holders of Fenerbahce cut to recover, and only the substitutes and absentees from Türkiye were allowed to exercise in the open air. The opportunity to see Nicolas TagliaficoThiago Almada or Ainsley Maitland-Nileseven if the latter was content with an individualized session. Sick these last few days in Istanbul, Ernest Nuamah was also there and “will definitely get better” in Nantes “to have a few more minutes.”
