Goals: Gendrey (47e) and Tohumcu (90e+6) pour Hope // Abner (66e) and Lacazette (90e+4) for the Gones.
Pierre Sage had bet that his usual replacements would hold out while waiting for the entry of his forces in the second half this Thursday at Hoffenheim. And his idea almost worked, but ultimately cost OL two points, who saw the Germans equalize in added time just after Alexandre Lacazette's goal. If no substitute scored points, with the possible exception of Warmed Omari and Rémy Descamps (seven saves), the starters saved the Gones who were behind as soon as they returned from the locker room. With this result, Lyon moves to 9e place, with seven points.
Lost substitutes
No miracle for Pierre Sage who saw his B team perform a first B team act. Apart from Georges Mikautadze's much too timid header on a serve from Saïd Benrahma, the Lyonnais created nothing before the break. Facing 16e of the Bundesliga, the Gones paid for the reshuffle and showed no automatism. Like Saël Kumbedi, full of good intentions but far too hot, the OL substitutes did not show enough to convince their coach to start them in all matches. The five-man defense from Rhone even suffered well during the first period, almost every time under the leadership of Andrej Kramarić (11e43e), who could have punished Lyon with a counter after a corner, but their American control wanted it otherwise (29e).
It was upon returning from the locker room that the Lyonnais finally cracked after a low cross from Tom Bischof from the left, caught at point blank range by Valentin Gendrey, who had passed in front of Abner (1-0, 47e). This logical opening of the score at least had the merit of moving OL who responded with a recovery from Mikautadze (55e), then a strike from Gift Orban, tackled at the last minute by a defender (57e). It was only at the hour mark that Pierre Sage finally brought in his starters at once: Alexandre Lacazette, Rayan Cherki, Malick Fofana and Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Suffice to say that this quadruple change (61e) completely changed the face of OL and the game.
Barely five minutes were enough for Les Gones to get back into the match with a goal from Abner, who finished off a blocked strike from Cherki, nicely served by the heel of Lacazette (1-1, 66e). After this equalizer, OL slowed down and even suffered a few minutes, before cornering Hoffenheim again from the 80e minute of play. As usual, it was in added time that the Gones thought they would make the difference with Lacazette's goal, alone at the far post from a corner (1-2, 90e+4). But like against OM, OL collapsed in the wake of their goal, because of Umut Tohumcu's equalizer, receiving a poorly cleared cross (2-2, 90e+6). The Lyonnais must therefore be content with this draw and can bite their fingers given their superiority from the entries of the holders.
Relive Hoffenheim-Lyon (2-2)
