A sulfurous return “home” and a first victory on the Lyon bench.
Thirty-one years after leaving Montpellier as a player (1983-1991), Laurent Blanc was back on Saturday at La Mosson.
Against MHSC, where he is the top scorer in the club's history (84 goals in all competitions), the new OL coach has put Les Gones back on track for his second match for Lyon.
After a red card in each camp and a very complicated second half to maneuver, the Lyonnais finally imposed themselves on a goal from Alexandre Lacazette in the 90th minute (1-2).
The scenario has long suggested that the Montpellier residents could carry out a robbery, as the Gones have wasted opportunities.
But the desire of Laurent Blanc's men to offer their new coach a first victory in Ligue 1 in his new colors got the better of Montpellier, who were too weak in the first period (30% possession of the ball).
Houssem Aouar also concretized the superiority of the Rhodaniens in the 33rd minute (0-1), on a cross from Lacazette.
📊 @OL victory in numbers 👉 https://t.co/deEblxfO2z#MHSCOL pic.twitter.com/yGWghQ5ROX
— Ligue 1 Uber Eats (@Ligue1UberEats) October 22, 2022
Completely at the mercy of the visitors, the MHSC players also suffered the injury of their goalkeeper Jonas Omlin, victim of a sprained left ankle, before rebelling during the last five minutes of the first act.
His replacement, Bingourou Kamara then turned into a savior on many occasions, while Elye Wahi was able to take advantage, against the course of the game, of a poor recovery from Lyon to register a sublime bicycle and equalize (70th, 1-1 ).
“We are on the right path”
The match then got carried away, to the point of causing a few scuffles (74th) leading to a red card for Diomandé and Mavididi.
OL knew how to keep a cool head and push to the end to finally score the liberating goal which gave them their first success in six games.
“We will be able to breathe this week, reassured Alexandre Lacazette at the microphone of Prime video.
We made the task more difficult, I take it for myself too ”, he drew up as an observation, lucid on a performance which collectively lacked realism (21 shots).
From now on, Lyon is turning to the reception of Lille, next Sunday, before going to challenge OM in Marseille.
Suffice to say that Laurent Blanc did well to take advantage of his return to the fold to show that his OL was finally (perhaps) really going to start his season.
“The first half is of a good quality, we left nothing to Montpellier, declared Laurent Blanc.
They were deprived of the ball.
In the second half, it was our intention to do the same things, but they had to move at the break and came back with more aggression.
At 2-0, we would have been more serene.
But we are on the right path: there is a lot of work to do because some players are not ready to do 90 minutes.
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