Four days before the Europa League quarter-final return against West Ham, OL took the point of the draw in Strasbourg this Sunday, as part of the 31st day of Ligue 1. But the Lyonnais lost Anthony Lopes, Houssem Aouar and Tanguy Ndombele to injury.
Olympique Lyonnais is not doing too badly with the last minute draw thanks to Karl Toko Ekambi (90th), on the Strasbourg pitch (1-1) this Sunday during the 31st match day of Ligue 1 , a result that does not suit him for the European Cup. The Alsatians remain in fourth place. OL remains in ninth place, ten points behind third-placed Marseille, which hosts Montpellier. And notes two bad news with the injuries of Tanguy Ndombele, Houssem Aouar and Anthony Lopes.
Lyon so far from Europe
After Ibrahima Sissoko opened the score on a misunderstanding from the Lyon defense (20th), Karl Toko offered Ekambi an unexpected point at the last minute to OL (90th). But this result does not suit Les Gones, who did not take advantage of Nice’s misstep in Lens (3-0). Just tenths with 46 units on the clock, they are five lengths behind OGCN (5th, 51 points). They usually relegate to ten points from the podium, occupied by Rennes (2nd, 56 points) and Marseille (3rd, 56 points), who receive Montpellier in the evening. However, the RCSA, perhaps frustrated to allow the equalizer at the end of the game, consolidates its fourth place with 52 points, two and four more respectively than Monaco (6th) and Lille (7th).
OL started the game with a bang by putting pressure on the Alsatian defense and logically created the first chance: close to the penalty area, Houssem Aouar fired a cross that caught Matz Sels on his line (6th). The previous action required a miraculous comeback and a save from Gerzino Nyamsi to counter a shot by Moussa Dembélé (5th). Racing, carried by its incredible crowd, reacted to a corner, but Nyamsi’s recovery flew away (9th).
The second chance was good for the RCSA: on a header from Ludovic Ajorque, Sissoko took advantage of a disagreement between two Lyon defenders and Anthony Lopes to come out and push the ball into the goal (1-0, 20th). Shortly after his shot, the Strasbourg midfielder hit the Rhone goalkeeper, who was hit in the thigh and soon after had to leave his partners to make way for Julian Pollersbeck (30th). Just before this replacement, Dembélé had almost equalized unacademicly, but his recovery of the thigh, on a cross by Léo Dubois, had crashed into the Alsatian crossbar (28th).
Toko Ekambi saves a point
Strasbourg then began to press the Gones higher to hinder their ascent of the ball. This proved to be effective as the latter were no longer dangerous until the break, unlike Racing. Caci put Pollersbeck to work with a nice volley that narrowly blocked the Lyon goalkeeper (43rd).
Lyon came back from the dressing room and tried to regain control of the game, but struggled to approach Strasbourg’s goal, save on a header from Jason Denayer which was well caught by Sels (57th). OL left more and more space to the RCSA, which almost took advantage of it. Jean-Ricner Bellegarde sent his curling shot just above (71st) after which Kévin Gameiro encountered Pollersbeck (85th). Lyon finally grabbed the equalizer thanks to Toko Ekambi, on the lookout for the far post on a cross by Dubois (1-1, 90th).
