NOS Football•
A stunt was not possible for Go Ahead Eagles against Olympique Lyonnais, but the club from Deventer does not have to be ashamed of the performance in France. The number five from the French league was better and deservedly won 2-1. But Go Ahead showed that it was not afraid and at times played well with the leader in the competition phase of the Europa League.
Go Ahead Eagles are in 28th place with six points and still have a real chance of reaching the intermediate round of the Europa League. Then it will help if Go Ahead wins the remaining away match against OGC Nice (January 22) and the home match against SC Braga (January 29).
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The standings in the Europa League after Thursday, December 11 -
The standings in the Europa League after Thursday, December 11
Reaching that intermediate round does not seem impossible given the start of the match against Lyon. The match between two football teams promised something beautiful. And it was. Three goals were scored in the first ten minutes.
Lyon started fieryly and scored after three minutes: a flowing attack ended with Afonso Moreira who simply ran the ball in (1-0). Go Ahead was not fooled and continued to put pressure on the French early, causing captain Tolisso to be surprised and lose the ball. Milan Smit alertly caught the ball and did not hesitate from close range (1-1).
Not much later, Lyon took the lead again. Goalkeeper Jari De Busser did not process a swab shot sufficiently and was unable to stop Pavel Sulc’s effort on the rebound (2-1).
After that the game cooled down a bit. Lyon kept a lot of possession and tapped around patiently, looking for the weak spot in the Eagles defense. The French combinations sometimes looked impressive, but the final pass was often inaccurate. And so the goals did not come.
Lyon hits the crossbar twice
Lyon in particular could have scored again before half-time, with a ball that hit the crossbar. But after the break, the French hardly shot between the posts. That was also because Go Ahead kept Eagles concentrated and defenders threw themselves in front of the shots several times with dedication.
Only in the final phase did Lyon hit the crossbar again and a ball was saved from the line by Jelle Kramer. Melvin Boel’s team also pressed, but that didn’t yield more than a long shot deep into injury time into the hands of the keeper.
Go Ahead can travel back to Deventer with their heads held high, where they will visit FC Twente in the Premier League on Sunday. And can already look forward to the new year with two important European competitions.
