OL won the draw on the Hoffenheim pitch with ten changes in their starting lineup compared to their last match, this Thursday evening in the Europa League (2-2). A strategy assumed by Pierre Sage, despite a cruel outcome.
The derby in sight. Opposed to Hoffenheim this Thursday evening in the Europa League (2-2), Olympique Lyonnais carried out a large squad review. At kick-off, Pierre Sage and his staff had decided to make ten changes compared to the starting lineup of the last match, with Duje Caleta-Car as the only survivor among the starters of the match against Lille last Friday (1- 1, 10th day of Ligue 1).
>> Revivez Hoffenheim-OL (2-2)
After the meeting, which ended in a frustrating draw (2-2), the Lyon coach clearly assumed his strategy. “It’s with the idea of preparing for our match on Sunday (against Saint-Etienne in Ligue 1, Editor’s note) by ensuring that our players can continue in 72 hours,” Pierre Sage confided at a press conference. “In this sense, I could only give them, in my opinion, half an hour today so that they are in a state of maximum freshness on Sunday and so that we can compete in our derby with maximum resources available. .”
Sage: “Cruel et inadmissible”
Despite this big turnover, OL were very close to achieving a perfect shot on the Hoffenheim pitch. Initially trailing 1-0, the Rhone club thought they had snatched victory in the 93rd minute thanks to Alexandre Lacazette. But OL relaxed in the final moments and conceded the equalizer in the 96th minute.
“It's a big disappointment. It's both cruel and unacceptable, given that we managed to manage the scenario as we expected, to play our match on a balance for 60 minutes to push for 30 minutes at the end”, railed Pierre Sage at the microphone of Canal+.
Au Europa League rankingLyon is 9th, two points from the top 8 and direct qualification to the round of 16. As a reminder, the teams ranked between 9th and 24th place will compete in the play-offs, a sort of round of 16.
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