Thanks to its victory against LOSC (1-0), Olympique Lyonnais consolidates its fourth place in the ranking. And finds itself tied with Marseille, third.
A goal from young Dane Noah Nartey, starting for the first time, allowed Lyon to win at home against Lille (1-0), Sunday during the 20th day of Ligue 1, a victory which allows OL to return to the podium.
The Rhone residents (4th), who signed a tenth consecutive victory in all competitions, are only ahead of OM (3rd) on goal difference, and take advantage of this to relegate Lille (5th) seven lengths. The Mastiffs could have claimed a better result given their domination throughout the game, facing the Lyonnais who were more sluggish than in recent matches. But the visitors, with a severe lack of realism, suffered a fourth consecutive defeat in Ligue 1, punished by the good debut of Noah Nartey.
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Recruited in mid-January for 7.5 million euros from Brondby (1st Danish division), the 20-year-old midfielder posted a very encouraging first performance under his new colors, punctuated by a goal. Against the flow of play and on the Lyonnais’ first shot on target, he gave his team a decisive advantage by flat-footing a cross delivered by the Dutchman Ruben Kluivert after a very impressive overflow on the left wing (37th).
“I don’t think there could have been a better goal or a better home win. It’s just pure joy. For my first match as a starter in this stadium with an incredible atmosphere, it’s a dream”reacted Nartey. “We all knew it was a big game and those three points were really important. It’s easy to join this team because it’s a really good group where everyone encourages each other.”he added.
“I knew Noah was ready to play because we had a lot of good signals this week with him”said the Portuguese coach of the OL, Paulo Fonsca. “I thought it would be difficult for him to last 90 minutes but he played the whole match. He has qualities with the ball but he was also very effective defensively.
Like Endrick, on loan from Real Madrid, Nartey scored in his first appearance with OL. Like Endrick, he did it against Lille – the young Brazilian scored in the 2-1 victory in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France on January 11. This is the third time that Lyon has beaten Lille this season after the first leg victory at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium (1-0).
Sterile domination of Lille
But Paulo Fonseca’s men, deprived of their midfield playing masters with Corentin Tolisso, injured, and the Englishman Tyler Morton, ill, are still doing rather well. Lille had several opportunities to open the scoring and goalkeeper Dominik Greif was decisive on two attempts from Romain Perraud (13th, 22nd). The Slovak goalkeeper also diverted a shot from Matias Fernandez-Pardo (28th) onto his post while Hakon Haraldsson sent a ball a little over (45+3rd).
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In the second half, Lille’s domination became more evident but OL’s defense was very solid, like Moussa Niakhaté, Clinton Mata and Kluivert. She did not concede any real chances despite the entry of Olivier Giroud (68th) and possession of the ball in favor of Losc. Lille only scored one of its five attempts after half-time, that of Fernandez-Pardo, stopped by Greif (90+2nd) while the Lyonnais were dangerous on the counter by Pavel Sulc (74th) who came up against Özer, or even Endrick (85th).
OL will have the opportunity to continue on Wednesday, against Laval in the Coupe de France, while Losc will try to end their poor series in the championship against relegated Metz on Friday.
