Gambardella Cup. “My players were impressed”: Gap’s perfect shot against Lyon… at the last minute!

This Saturday, the match took time to find its rhythm. If Gap held the ball rather well by rotating from his defense without a clear attack, FC Lyon, for their part, saw Dembri, served by a crossbar, hit off target.

At Gap, Oyaga was in sight of the ball and allowed Pena to hit over the top. If the Rhone goalkeeper made good restarts, he was close to being deceived by his central defender Rabia on a free kick from the same Oyaga.

The Gapençais were building, but they lacked speed on the wings. Lyon’s system held up well, even if Mouguert’s cross could have benefited Oyaga.

In the high-Alpine cage, Hidalgo defeated Bolefo and left the Gapençais tied. Before the break, the referee brought out two logical cards. And the last cartridge of the first period was for the Rhodanian Belkhir. On an off-center free kick, Hidalgo had to make a headline.

A fatal hand mistake

Upon returning from the locker room, FC Lyon changed its playing system and positioned a lower midfield. A foul committed on Kizikurashavili gave the Alpine captain Abalhate the opportunity to go up, but he missed his header.

Gap still put the pressure on with the overflow of Martins volleyed by Mouguert. It was following a loss of the ball in the middle that a thrill passed with the cross shot from Lyonnais L’Huillier. Gap and Lyon had many corners without taking advantage, notably Chabal blocked twice. His defensive head also came to save his team on the line.

The return of Gapençais Jellouli would bring percussion. With a heavy strike while turning around, he triggered Schricke’s arrest. Gap gave everything in the last five minutes and Kizikuraschvili shot at the end of the race before Jellouli curled a beautiful free kick that the Lyon goalkeeper saw go narrowly wide.

As the two teams headed into a penalty shootout, Cristiano Martins had enough energy to step forward and strike from a tight angle. Schricke chose his moment poorly to make a hand mistake and concede the opener (1-0, 90^e ). A huge clamor accompanied this masterstroke which sent Gap to the next round.

“We didn’t have a great match overall with a sluggish first period. In the second half, FC Lyon changed their system, which changed the debates a little. I think the fear of losing was present on both sides. At home with a large crowd, my players were impressed, but they went all the way to seek qualification. It could go one way or the other in the end, fortunately, it fell with us.”