Jonathan David had a chance to break the deadlock early on, as he blazed a close-range attempt over the bar from a corner. But Lyon grew into the contest and had a penalty shout turned down when a long-range effort from Thiago Mendes appeared to hit André Gomes on the arms. Despite the Brazilian’s protests, the incident did not even prompt a VAR review. Mendes was having a torrid time and was dispossessed by Rémy Cabella, who in turn teed up David, whose audacious lob cannoned off the bar. Paulo Fonseca’s team was marginally the better of the two sides in a cagey first half, and were denied an opening shortly before HT when Anthony Lopes made a fine intervention to tip away Timothy Weah’s intended ball to David.
Johann Lepenant entered the fray for the second half and was hugely fortunate only to receive a yellow card for lunging into Angel Gomes with a studs-up challenge. Both sides were struggling to find that elusive clinical touch to open the scoring, although Gomes forced Lopes into a fine one-handed save after Bafodé Diakité spotted him inside the box at the end of a free-flowing move. Despite being largely second best after the break, it was Lyon who struck first through Alexandre Lacazette after the former Arsenal man fired the ball home with a first-time finish from Nicolás Tagliafico's cross. It was the skipper’s fourth goal in the three games since Laurent Blanc was appointed as head coach and proved to be the decisive strike of the night.
The result secured Les Gones a first league victory over Lille since recording a 1-0 win at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in November 2016, and prevented Blanc’s side from succumbing to a third home game without a win. Meanwhile, the outcome would be hard to swallow for Fonseca’s team, whose run of scoring in 15 consecutive league games came to an end.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Nicolás Tagliafico (Olympique Lyonnais)
