Olympique Lyonnais ended up having the last word. This Saturday evening, OL snatched a precious victory, in the last moments, against Montpellier (1-0), during the sixteenth day of Ligue 1. At Groupama Stadium, it was Khalil Fayad who scored against his side , in added time (90th+1). While we seemed to be heading towards a goalless draw, Les Gones carried out a very good operation and came back to level with Lille, currently fourth in the standings with 28 points. The Héraultais, for their part, remain last.
Not really worried defensively, it took just one moment of panic for the Montpellier rearguard to finally give in. Following a cross from Alexandre Lacazette, coming from the right, Corentin Tolisso threw himself to strike from close range, but he came up against Enzo Tchato. Arriving as reinforcement, Khalil Fayad, already very unhappy earlier after a big miss in front of goal (73rd), could not avoid scoring against his side (90th + 1, 1-0).
VAR refused a goal for Montpellier
The Lyonnais finished this meeting with an impressive attacking quartet, made up of Malick Fofana, Rayan Cherki, Alexandre Lacazette and Georges Mikautadze. However, this did not allow Pierre Sage's men to prove more dangerous than that, until this additional time. Moreover, the only shot on target for Les Gones took place just after returning from the locker room, when Lacazette headed in a ball that had been rejected, reflexively, by Benjamin Lecomte, who had almost, just before, being deceived by another of his teammates, Nikola Maksimovic (51st).
Aerial duel during OL – Montpellier.
Credit: Getty Images
Although bottom red, Montpellier showed good offensive intentions from the kick-off. In the first five minutes, Jean-Louis Gasset's men even created several big chances. If Téji Savanier, deprived of his captain's armband but well established, showed himself to his advantage (2nd, 20th), Jordan Ferri, for his part, found the crossbar, before Mousa Al Ta'mari stumbled on Perri (3rd), then decisive ahead of Becir Omeragic (4th). The Lyon goalkeeper was sometimes abandoned by his defense, but he held on, despite other dangerous attempts from Al Ta'mari (52nd) then Wahbi Khazri, from a direct free kick (83rd).
The Montpellier side, who had lost their first seven away games of the season in the elite, opened the scoring, through Jordan Ferri (53rd). The former Lyonnais, who had decided not to celebrate in front of his audience, finally saw his goal canceled by the referee, after viewing the VAR, following a foul committed on Fofana. On arrival, realism was therefore in Lyon. Pierre Sage's men, who were left with a defeat, in the elite, on the PSG pitch (3-1), are getting the machine back on track and can continue to look ahead in the standings.
