Lyon falls back into its failings and sinks in Auxerre

AJ Auxerre 2-1 Olympique Lyonnais

Goals: Perrin (51^esp) and Jubal (53^e) for the Icaunais // Dembélé (36^e) for the Gones.

Yet confident with a convincing success against Lens last Sunday, OL suffered the law of an AJ Auxerre who had not won in the league for ten games. Still without Laurent Blanc on the bench, the Lyonnais presented themselves to Abbé-Deschamps in the 3-4-1-2 which had been fatal to the Artésiens. This time, it didn’t work and Lyon sank in two minutes, on two monumental Burgundian waves at the start of the second act. With this success, the men of Christophe Pélissier – his second success at the head of AJA – return to a length of the first non-relegable. For its part, Lyon remains ninth, within reach of Reims and Toulouse.

Flash reversal

Smoked by the cracks of the Auxerre bend and the Lyon parking lot, on the other hand, the Abbé-Deschamps lawn saw the hosts go into the bacon… At least during the first five minutes. As soon as the cloud of smoke scattered in the icaunaise night, the Rhodaniens set foot on the ball, but still left a few phases of possession to the Auxerrois. After an avoidable foul by Gideon Mensah, Sinaly Diomandé, heading in a free kick from Rayan Cherki, sent a first shiver through the spans. But Ionuț Radu is impeccable and diverts (17^e). Side Auxerrois, it is Mathis Abline, launched by Han-Noah Massengo, who stands out by presenting himself alone against Anthony Lopes, but he does not manage to dribble the doorman. The player on loan from Rennes is flagged offside, but the VAR would have probably reversed the decision of the assistant referee (30^e).

While OL struggled to touch Moussa Dembélé and Amin Sarr in the area, Corentin Tolisso finally found the solution. Right side, the 2018 world champion center from afar. Jubal is lobbed and lets Dembélé adjust his head, who takes advantage of a not imperial Radu to open the scoring (0-1, 36^e). But AJA attacks the second period as it had started the meeting. Result: Auxerre reverses the match in two minutes. First, Diomandé completely misses his raise and returns the ball to Massengo. The environment comes to provoke and force the Ivorian to make a mistake in the area. Logical and transformed penalty, with success since the ball passes between the arms of Lopes, by Gaëtan Perrin to equalize (1-1, 51^e).

Just after kick-off, Castello Lukeba loses the ball high up. Diomandé messes up and kicks the ball for a corner. Perrin kicks him, and Nuno da Costa diverts him at the first post towards Jubal, left alone at the second by Lukeba. The Brazilian makes up for his blunder and gives the advantage to AJA (2-1, 53^e). Even by going back to four defenders, the Rhodanians did not create more chances. It is even the locals, after a festival from Siriki Dembélé on the left side, and a sublime control from Gauthier Hein, who are close to taking the break. But fortunately for OL, Lopes intervenes (74^e). A vain parade since the visitors will never pick up the score.

AJ Auxerre (4-2-3-1): Radu – Zedadka, I. Touré, Jubal, Mensah – B. Touré, Massengo – Raveloson, Perrin (Dembélé, 69^e), da Costa (Huh, 64^e) – Abline (Niang, 88^e). Coach : Christophe Pelissier.

Olympique Lyonnais (3-4-1-2): Lopes – Diomandé (Lepenant, 68^e), Lovren, Lukeba – Kumbedi, Caqueret, Tolisso (Mendes, 66^e), Tagliafico – Cherki – Dembélé, Sarr (Barcola, 75^e). Coach : Laurent Blanc.