The chaotic scenes seen at the end of the match at Groupama Stadium are a reflection of the season for Olympique Lyonnais. While Lyon has just been eliminated by West Ham in the quarter-final second leg of the Europa League, Thursday April 14, (1-1, 0-3), several supporters come down from the stands to attack the stewards behind the goals and attempt to invade the lawn. The safety net is doing its job but the moment is striking: Lyon have emerged ingloriously from the Europa League, humiliated by the Hammers, and will probably not have much to learn from their 2021-2022 exercise.
Incidents in the stands of Groupama Stadium after OL’s defeat against West Ham.
The Lyon supporters manhandle the barriers of the stadium, the security is obliged to work. pic.twitter.com/HUXhAkn6N1
– RMC Sport (@RMCsport) April 14, 2022
During this time, the Lyon players quickly slipped from the pitch, without a gesture of thanks to the supporters. Only Moussa Dembélé, evening captain, remains at the edge of the green rectangle to answer questions from broadcasters. Obviously, the main question concerns Lyon’s hopes at the end of the season: eliminated from the Coupe de France, 10th in the Ligue 1 standings and far from qualifying places for the European Cup, what can Lyon still hope for?
“The club had made this European Cup the priority objective“, explained Karl Toko Ekambi in a press conference after the match. As an admission of the fact that the Lyonnais left Ligue 1 a long time ago. But by going “all-in” on the Europa League, Lyon was walking on a tightrope. and fell. Waking up Friday morning is likely to be difficult, like the next league games.
Until then, Lyon was going through an enchanted parenthesis on the continental scene. Nine games, no defeats and the feeling that the Lyonnais were able to raise their level of play during the big European evenings. By winning the Europa League, of which he had reached the last four in 2017, Lyon was already qualified for the next edition of the Champions League.
The return to earth will be difficult for OL to live with, especially after this frustrating elimination against a takeable West Ham team. There and back, the Lyonnais scuttled themselves and will long regret not having been able to capitalize on their chances. But even if OL managed to sublimate themselves in the European Cup, the reality on the ground always ends up catching up with the most dreamy.
The reality is that Lyon has displayed since the start of the season, for its status as a club which aims for the first three places, a poor level in the league every weekend. “This return match is faithful to the rest of the season: they played 30 minutes and then it was over“, complains Blaise, who came from Paris to attend the meeting. A team, unable to chain three victories in a row in Ligue 1, can hardly consider joining the last four of a European competition. Even a quarter-final .
But Lyon had managed to climb to this stage of the competition, miraculously, and was already dreaming big. “I had a vision. I think it’s the right one“, announced Jean-Michel Aulas prophetically at the end of March. Two weeks later, the president of OL found himself in an embarrassing situation: he had already given an ultimatum to Peter Bosz earlier in the season. Dutchman could stay, after such a disappointment and a failed year in the big widths? Bosz explained after the match not to have the impression of seeing his position “threatens“.
On the workforce side, this elimination obviously calls for changes. No leader appeared on Thursday evening as OL sank on the lawn of Groupama Stadium. The players were targeted at the end of the match by the supporters who took out two banners against them: “Move your c…“, “are you going to do…..“. Hitherto lenient and present behind their team, with the hope of winning the Europa League, Lyon supporters could well turn around at the end of the season. Like the many whistles that came down from the stands in end of game.
-3 – Beaten by West Ham (0-3), Lyon suffered their co-biggest defeat at home in European competition after those against Mönchengladbach in 1974 (2-5), Rangers in 2007 (0-3) and at Bayern Munich in 2010 (0-3). Snub. #OLWHU pic.twitter.com/49BnndQKgd
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) April 14, 2022
“I don’t have the words. Tonight the stadium was the twelfth man but unfortunately eleven more were missing.”, regrets Sylvain, a member of the Lyon 1950 group and present in the bays of Groupama Stadium this evening. How to appease the nascent sling? Thanks to Ligue 1, according to Toko Ekambi. “It is through these league games that we will try to get something out of this season“, explained the Lyon striker after the match. “It will take an extraordinary end to the season“, analyzed Bosz in a press conference after the meeting.
Lyon is only 5 points from 5th place, qualifying for the Europa League Conference. A slim hope with seven games left to play in Ligue 1.”I believe in a comeback because I am a supporter so I will follow the end of the season and hope that they save what can be saved in the league“, supports Blaise. But the OL supporter does not want to forget that he must “already preparing the next“. Without erasing the content of a decidedly more than disappointing season.