Lyon – Olympiakos, Getty Images September 27, 2024, 00:00

Thursday is a classic day for the matches of the now main round of the UEFA Europa League in its new format. Like the previous day, there were plenty of interesting confrontations in this tournament, and the match in French Lyon, where the local club of the same name hosted Greek Olympiakos, which otherwise might not have been at this stage of the competition, deserved special attention.

However, Jose Luis Mendilibar’s side surprised everyone last season by beating Italy’s Fiorentina in the Conference League final in Athens and earning a straight ticket to the main stage of the more prestigious competition, although the red and whites’ third row in the domestic arena only guaranteed qualification. “Weavers” could not show off like that, because at the beginning of the season they were almost eliminated from League 1, but under the curtain of the campaign they gathered their thoughts.

In this game, on the other hand, it was Olympiakos who had to gather their thoughts. A tough game from the Mendilibar team ahead, while the opponents felt as free with the ball in the opponent’s half as it was possible in principle. But Lyon still had some problems with moments. Lacazette’s strike in the first few minutes and Noam and Tolisso’s similar lunges to the right wing of the free-kick with goalkeeper Tsolakis making saves in the near corner.

Instead, the visitors invented only one long-range shot by Rodiney from the area in front of the free kick under the left post, which goalkeeper Leona Perry coped with, and that was it. In principle, Yaremchuk was not noticeable in the attack, because all the balls flew in the direction of El-Kaabi, if at all they reached the final phase of the attacks of the Greek team. And this happened so infrequently that the fans in Lyon whistled at the end of the half, what was theirs, what was someone else’s – they had gathered to watch the show.

That’s what we got in the second half of the show. First of all, because the “weavers” began to attack more accentuated. Almost immediately, Lacazette’s long-range shot bounced off Tsolakis’ gloves and flew into the left frame of the goal, and a moment later in the counterattack, Yaremchuk wasted his best and almost the only moment of the game – Chaleta-Tsar did not let the forward’s attempt to complete the cross from the net into the net of the left flank on the near post.

After that, Lyon shut down the visitors in their own half for a long time and didn’t leave until the job was done. Sherky still drove the opponents and in the 65th minute from the right wing he passed the goalkeeper in close range from an acute angle. And a little later, the fresh Zaha and Benrahma completed the attack on the opposite side of the other side’s possessions, after which the results of the game could already be added up. Meanwhile, Yaremchuk was replaced even before the hosts’ first goal.

Pierre Sazh’s team could have conceded at the end of the game, and in fact did so formally, when Villan’s cross from the left flank into the net of his own goal was cut quite nicely into the far corner by Chalet-Tsar, but the former Shakhtar player had already gone offside, so the Mendilibar players start with no points and no goals scored.

In the next round, France’s Lyon will play away to Scotland’s Rangers, while Greece’s Olympiakos will host Portugal’s Braga.

Lyon — Olympiakos 2:0
Goals: Sherky, 65, Benrahma, 71

Lyon: Perry – Maitland-Niles, Mata, Chaleta-Tsar, Tagliafico – Tolisso, Matic (Tessmann, 67), Sherky (Benrahma, 67) – Fofana (Zaha, 67), Lacazette (Mikautadze, 74), Nuama (Diawara, 81) .

Olympiakos: Tsolakis — Retsos (Ntoi, 83), Karmu, Pirola (Stamenych, 68) — Rodinei, Shikinu (Velde, 83), D. Garcia (Willian, 68), Esse, Ortega — Yaremchuk (Kostulas, 60), El-Kaabi .

Warning: Tagliafico – D. Garcia, Esse, Rodiney