Olympique Lyon vs. Sochaux

Showing signs of rustiness from the international break, OL would never get into their rhythm against a side desperate to send out a message to badly injured team-mate Charlie Davies, who is currently in hospital in the USA after suffering a terrible car accident. And a first half goal from Jacques Faty, combined with a late strike from Sloan Privat sent the striker the perfect get well soon gift.

Although Lisandro Lopez would threaten for the home side as early as the fourth minute, they would certainly not have things their own way for the opening quarter of the match, and it was at the height of les Lionceaux’s dominant that they took the lead.

Sochaux had started the game in a largely sound manner, though they had shown little real offensive penetration and had to ride their luck on 15 minutes when Bafetimbi Gomis snapped a shot just wide, though it would not have counted in any case due to the assistant referee’s flag.

But only a minute later Francis Gillot’s side moved into the lead, taking advantage of some poor communication in the decimated home defence. Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris seemed in command of a corner kick, but Maxime Gonalons and Jeremy Toulalan both attacked the ball, making the French international’s life difficult and essentially allowing Faty a simple finish.

OL might have hit immediately back, but good combination play between Lisandro and Gomis resulted only in the latter striking a shot narrowly wide. Sochaux responded through a hopeful effort from Vincent Nogueira the skipped off the slick turf and flirted with Lloris’ right hand post en route to passing wide for a goal kick.

With ten minutes of the first period remaining, Lyon stepped up another level and could easily have gone in at the interval all square. A ball from Gonalons picked out Gomis, but despite a couple of feints, the striker could not steer a shot on target from an awkward angle. Lisandro then tried his luck, but the Argentine’s shot suffered a similar fate, allowing visiting goalkeeper Teddy Richert to go in at half-time with his sheet still clean.

For long spells of the second half, Lyon’s play was badly laboured as they struggled to make any kind of indentation into the Sochaux rearguard. They did spark into life to some extent with 20 minutes remaining. Substitute Yannis Tafer’s low ball across the face of the net but Gomis’ desperate effort to get a toe on the ball was in vein as he proved half a shoe-size too small.

These moments seemed to suggest that there would be real hunger and determination in Lyon in the closing stages, but this never really materialised on the field. Instead, it would be Sochaux who would strike a late decisive blow. Yassin Mikari set in motion a quick later counterattack, sending the ball to Privat, who showed maturity belying his tender years to beat Lloris.