Dominant but clumsy for 90 minutes, OL were rewarded for their patience on Tuesday.
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Lyon no longer knows defeat. After a first part of the season rehashing particularly cruel match scenarios, Olympique Lyonnais now knows how to cope even when it is far from its best level. Pierre Sage’s players beat Strasbourg on penalties (0-0, 4-3 tab), Tuesday February 27, in the quarter-finals of the Coupe de France. A qualification acquired with pain, after having failed to achieve their domination during the entirety of regulation time.
Like winter recruit Saïd Benrahma, as restless as he is clumsy, the Lyonnais were particularly imprecise, only calling on the opposing goalkeeper once in 20 shots. But, they recovered at the fateful hour of the penalties, with a flawless performance from Maxence Caqueret, Gift Orban, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Rayan Cherki. Opposite, the failure of the first shooter of the session, Thomas Delaine, was costly for Strasbourg, whose elimination was declared when Lucas Perrin missed the target.
The explosion of joy from OL’s usual second goalkeeper, Lucas Perri, quickly covered his team’s disappointing 90 minutes. Above all, the Groupama Stadium was treated to a communion that no one could have imagined two months earlier. The demons are now well behind the Rhone club, which has distanced itself from the red zone in Ligue 1 and is preparing to compete in the semi-finals of the Coupe de France. “We want to go as far as possible”, assumed Maxence Caqueret at the microphone of beIN Sports. He and his teammates are just one game away from playing in the club’s first final in the competition since 2012.
