Olympique Lyonnais, winner on the wire in Toulouse (2-1) Friday at the opening of the 31e Ligue 1 day, thanks in particular to 19e goal of the season for Alexandre Lacazette, remains in the race for Europe with this third consecutive success.
On a good dynamic since the start of the return phase, OL, undefeated for seven matches in the league, confirmed their last two victorious outings against Paris (1-0) and Rennes (3-1). The Rhone club returns before the other meetings of the day to two points from Lille and the fifth qualifying place for the Europa League Conference, its ultimate objective this season after being beaten last week by Nantes (1-0) in semi- French Cup final.
A competition that the TFC, qualified for its side for the final at the Stade de France on April 29, already has in mind now that its maintenance in the elite is almost certain, with 12 points ahead of the first relegation. “We are going to win the Coupe de France”also sang in the rain on Friday the Toulouse supporters, weaned from the title since 1957. They can be partly reassured by the ability to react of their team, which quickly responded to the opening of the score of Lacazette.
A game full of opportunities
After failing in the exercise against PSG, the former Gunner transformed a penalty caused by the young Brazilian Jeffinho with a perfect counter-foot, moving in attack in place of Bradley Barcola, suspended (0-1, 34e). Returning up to Kylian Mbappé (PSG) and Jonathan David (Lille) at the top of the L1 top scorer rankings, the Lyon striker missed the break with his header three minutes later when he found himself alone against on goal from a corner kick.
Toulouse equalized in stride, on the counter-attack, thanks to its Moroccan international Zakaria Aboukhlal (1-1, 37e), opportunistic on a poor clearance from the Lyon defence. Rich in clear chances on both sides, including a strike on the crossbar by OL midfielder Corentin Tolisso (65e) and several saves from goalkeeper Anthony Lopes, the match finally changed to another error by the Chilean left side of Téfécé Gabriel Suazo, already guilty on the penalty.
Rayan Cherki, once again very valuable, took advantage of his offering in the last minutes to push Logan Costa to score against his side under pressure from Lacazette (1-2, 88e) and allow the Lyonnais to still dream of Europe.