Ainsley Maitland-Niles lors de Qarabag – OL (Photo by STRINGER / AFP)
Starting up front against Qarabag, Georges Mikautadze took advantage of this Europa League match to find his way back to goal with OL. Find the best and the flop of Olympique-et-Lyonnais.
On top : Georges Mikautadze
In this far from perfect evening, Pierre Sage can be satisfied with what happened on the attacking front. By choosing to tenure Georges Mikautadzethe OL coach had clearly made the choice to let Alexandre breathe Lacazette. He did much more than that. His captain remained calmly warm during the 90 minutes of this Lyon victory against Karabagh (1-4). At the same time, his appointed replacement on the attacking front scored his first goals in the Europa League. Perfectly served by Nuamah behind, Mikautadze had a bit of success on his flat cross foot (15th) but removed a nice thorn in his team's side.
Finally aligned with usual holders such as Cherki et Breathingthe Georgian railed a bit against the Espoirs international who forgot him just after the hour mark. However, this match played in its entirety allowed the kid from Gerland to continue his streak. Scorer for the selection, he made a remarkable entrance to Reims. Proof that he is regaining confidence? His magnificent goal for the 4-0 with two feints which made the defender of Karabagh before finishing with a little dive. A good omen for this final stretch in December.
The flop: Maitland-Niles symbol of this dilettante OL
We could have put the middle doublet Tessmann – Veretout suffering, but Maitland-Niles was the symbol of this OL with a face that was far from attractive. He was certainly involved in Mikautadze's two goals but it was complicated defensively on the side. His no-pressure side is usually the assurance of not panicking in the opponent's highlights. This Thursday evening, he clearly lacked bite.
Too easy on certain interventions and reminders, he was pushed around by his counterpart, whether Zoubir or Kashchuk when the latter switched. English phlegm has often been praised, but one only has to look at Duje Caleta-Car volley it back leaving Leondro Andrade put a head to understand that this evening was not a great evening for the full-back. Highlight of the show, this penalty certainly generous, but which clearly shows that Maitland-Niles was not in his plate this Thursday in Azerbaijan.
