Emmanuel LANGELLIER, Media365: published on Sunday January 5, 2025 at 8:47 a.m.
Even if OL ended up dominating Montpellier (1-0), Jordan Veretout, Pierre Sage and Alexandre Lacazette did not like Rhone's production at all on Saturday evening.
Winner on December 21 against Feignies-Aulnoye (2-1) in the 32nd finals of the Coupe de France, Olympique Lyonnais started 2025 as it had finished 2024. By winning. But it was hard! Lyon struggled for a long time against Montpellier who could also have led with more success, Saturday evening during the 16th day of Ligue 1. And then the Rhone team finally snatched the decision in added time in front of their home crowd. Groupama Stadium (1-0). Khalil Fayad, who could have unlocked the debates in the 73rd minute, turned the match around by scoring against his side (90th +1) and offered the 3 points to OL, 5th on Sunday morning tied with Lille, hanging on earlier by FC Nantes at home (1-1). If the Lyonnais won, they hardly tasted the manner.
Veretout: “It smiles on us but it’s not a deserved victory”
Established in front of the defense in the 4-2-3-1 pattern favored by Pierre Sage, Jordan Veretout did not mince his words with the broadcaster DAZN after the final whistle. “Tonight (Saturday), we will only remember the victory. We didn't create a game, we didn't demonstrate anything. This is not the image of the team. We will only retain the 3 points. He missed everything we usually do. We didn't demonstrate anything this evening. It smiles on us but it is not a deserved victory. We'll have to get back to work quickly, because tonight, it's not enough,” said the midfielder.
Sage: “We cannot afford to be ambitious and display such poor quality of play”
Pierre Sage, who never hides, didn't like it either. “Our opponents should have opened the scoring. We did a lot of things backwards. We cannot afford to be ambitious and display such poor quality of play, regretted the OL coach. We will have to watch this match again. We will quickly have to find solutions rather than excuses. We have work to do, today it was not the game that allowed us to win. We will have to have more control. We have to take responsibility. The next match must make us forget this poor performance. » Same story with captain Alexandre Lacazette: “We do not deserve victory, Montpellier deserves much better. It's part of football, when you don't kill the game, the opposing team can take advantage. Good for us today, but we can't be satisfied with our match. » Lyon will play its next L1 match by going to Brest, next Saturday (5 p.m.). And trying to do much better than Saturday.
