After the defeat conceded at home Wednesday night against Reims (1-2) in the very last minutes of the meeting, Peter Bosz knew his team was sick, far from the standards expected at the start of the season. But the Dutch coach of Olympique Lyonnais also knew that the opportunity would arise to bounce back, Sunday, December 5, at Matmut Atlantique, on the lawn of a Bordeaux even worse off.
It will not have been. And if OL led twice in this match, the Girondins managed to come back twice to hang a draw all in all logic (2-2). The Bordeaux players could even have won in the very last moments of the meeting. It took Anthony Lopes’ huge stoppage against M’Baye Niang (90 + 3rd) and the unmistakable failure of Stian Gregersen against the goals of the Lyon goalkeeper on the corner that followed (90 + 3rd).
Bosz could breathe at the edge of the lawn: his players will leave Bordeaux unscathed, with the point of the draw. But at the start of the meeting, the Lyon coach had great ambitions and had decided to change the system, to move to three central defenders to consolidate his rearguard. The observation is that there is still a lot of work for its players to stop conceding goals.
The two goals conceded today by Anthony Lopes were largely preventable. “We play a better game than Bordeaux tonight, but the two goals we concede, it’s our fault”, affirmed Bruno Guimaraes after the meeting. While OL led by a goal thanks to the opening of the scoring on an angry header from Jason Denayer on a corner (30th), the Lyon defenders were caught in depth, with an opportunistic Rémi Oudin, who came equalize for the Girondins (36th). At the time, the young Malo Gusto (18 years old) let the Bordelais conclude in empty goals, far too far in the marking.
Very good against Reims, Wednesday, despite the defeat of his team, convincing since the start of the season when he replaces the Lyon captain Léo Dubois – injured – Gusto lived a nightmare, Sunday evening, at Matmut Atlantique. The one whose qualities were praised at a press conference by Bosz on Sunday was at fault a second time on the other Bordeaux goal. The Lyonnais led again since the sublime achievement of Thiago Mendes, his first with OL in 88 games, an unstoppable 25-meter half-end (41st) for Benoît Costil.
5 – Since his first tenure in Ligue 1 on Matchday 11, Alberth Elis has scored 5 top-flight goals, no player has done better over the period. Revelation. #FCGBOL pic.twitter.com/Bd2yQXmQ2f
– OptaJean (@OptaJean) December 5, 2021
Back from the locker room, the Lyonnais dominated and finally began to combine effectively in front. Until this 58th minute and this error, therefore, of Gusto. An inexplicable hesitation from the right side which allowed the Girondins to launch a counter-attack and Alberth Elis, already a decisive passer on Oudin’s goal, to deceive Lopes (58th).
Sign that Gusto should not soon forget this Bordeaux evening, the young Lyon missed the opening scoring while the goals were empty (18th). The Bosz players pushed well at the end of the match and the Lyonnais sent a few shivers down the Atlantic Matmut on strikes from Lucas Paqueta (55th, 67th, 85th) and an inspiration from Karl Toko Ekambi (86th).
OL had the ball in this match (70% possession of the ball) and hit more goals (19 shots to 12), but are still too messy offensively and too feverish defensively to continue in the league. After their setback against Reims, Lyon failed to bounce back and now occupy 12th place in Ligue 1, with one game less. Far, very far from its European ambitions. The next match to be played for OL, on the lawn of the champion of France in Lille in a week, is not a Christmas present before the hour.