Having chosen an offensive tactic, Pierre Sage was rewarded for this audacity. The face of OL lived up to the event against Frankfurt (3-2).
With Peter Sagewe have learned not to get excited when everything is going well and not to see everything in darkness when the winds are contrary. Thursday evening, after the victory ofOL against Frankfurt (3-2), the French coach was not showing off. He stopped for long seconds to talk with Dino Top Möller at the crossroads of their respective press conference and had only positive words to describe what he thought of this German team.
However, on Thursday, the face shown by its players lived up to the event that is this Europa League. Pressing, offensive efficiency, courage, this beautiful evening brought together all the ingredients. “I really liked the mentality of the team this (Thursday) evening, beyond the game, it was above all the management of certain moments, of certain details, which made us, in my opinion, capable to reverse the trend and produce the game we produced, and win.”
If he regretted the goal conceded with this slip from Duje Caleta-Car following placement errors, Pierre Sage praised the mentality of his group for not giving up after the opening score then the 3-2 ten minutes from the end. “Today I saw Malick (Fofana) and Ainsley (Maitland-Niles) get angry and that means a lot, because they are not used to it (smile)”.
“The crowds at the stadium did not match the match”
In the tension at the end of the match, theOL stood up collectively to respond to German provocations, but also to the pressure put on to achieve this 3-3 which never happened. In this standoff, the Lyonnais showed their unity, helped by the 41,091 spectators present. “Today, the public is the best barometer, I am not talking about the crowd, because this (Thursday) evening, it did not measure up to this match, but the people present were behind us, we really encouraged it. It gives strength to the players, but when the public is in that state, it's also because they see themselves in what we produce.”
It is true that the Lyon public are now enjoying watching their team play again and that has been a long time coming.
