Around OL – Lyon Awaits St-Étienne Clash
Here’s all the latest news from around the OL family.
Lyon Prepares to Host Arch-Rivals St-Étienne
Olympique Lyonnais and its fans are eagerly awaiting the first match of the season against rivals AS St-Étienne, which will be played on Sunday. The two clubs have a rivalry dating back nearly 70 years, owing in large part to both clubs’ historical success in domestic play. The short distance between the two cities—which are separated by 39 miles—has compounded the fierceness of the Derby Rhône Alpes.
Lyon won the last meeting between the two sides on March 1 thanks to a brace from Moussa Dembélé who delighted the home crowd of 52,772 in the victory. The game proved Lyon’s penultimate league match of the season, as play was halted due to COVID-19 just over a week later and the club’s remaining fixtures were cancelled.
Read more here about the first-ever meeting between Lyon and St-Étienne on October 28, 1951.
Le Sommer Scores a Quartet Against North Macedonia
Eugénie Le Sommer served as a centerpiece for France during an 11-0 win over North Macedonia on October 24, scoring four goals in the win. The win saw Les Bleues (5-0-1, 16 points, 1st) go clear at the top of Group G, having scored 29 goals without conceding one through five matches played in qualifying for the 2022 UEFA Women’s Championship.
Le Sommer struck early and often, scoring in the 5th, 21st, 73rd and 78th minute during the demolition of the visitors. OL teammate Delphine Cascarino added a goal of her own in the 76th minute.
France, playing without captain and Lyon midfielder Amandine Henry, also played second-place Austria (5-0-1, 16 points, 2nd) to a scoreless draw in Wiener Neustadt, Austria on Tuesday, October 27.
OL Féminin Dismantles Montpellier HSC, Donates to Fight Cancer
Olympique Lyonnais Féminin (7-0-0, 21 points, 1st) remained perfect on the season against Montpellier (4-2-1, 13 points, 3rd) on Saturday, handing the home side their second loss of the season, 5-0.
Lyon scored twice in the opening 10 minutes. Dzsenifer Marozsán opened the scoring in the fifth minute, heading in a cross from the right side sent in by Delphine Cascarino. Amandine Henry doubled the advantage two minutes later, meeting a Marozsán free kick at the back post and heading it back across the face of goal to make it 2-0.
From there, Lyon added goals from Eugénie Le Sommer in the 21st minute and Sara Gunnarsdóttir in the 72nd, before Kadiesha Buchanan knocked in a loose ball from a corner kick in the third minute of second-half stoppage time.
Lyon now takes a week-long break from league play, before it will welcome ASJ Soyaux-Charente on Friday, November 13.
Prior to the match and as part of the D1F’s “Octobre Rose” campaign, OL captain Wendie Renard and Montpellier captain Iva Landeka presented a check for €10,000 to the Ruban Rose group, an organization dedicated to fighting breast cancer.
Short-Handed Lyon Draw Lille OSC
Olympique Lyonnais (3-1-5, 14 points, 6th) took a point off of unbeaten Lille OSC (5-0-4, 19 points, 2nd) on Sunday, securing a 1-1 draw despite being reduced to 10 men shortly after halftime.
Lille’s Jonathan Bamba opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, striking a long shot across the penalty area to beat a diving Anthony Lopes to the right post.
Lyon equalized shortly before halftime, when a hard-struck ball from Houssem Aouar deflected off defender Mehmet Çelik and found the back of the net.
OL found itself in a difficult spot when defender Marcelo, already carrying a yellow card, was dismissed by referee Mikael Lesage after he caught Bamba with a late challenge near midfield.
Lopes came up strong for his side over the final 40 minutes, however, making a diving stop against a curling strike from Bamba in the 60th minute and tipping an attempted Olimpico from Yusuf Yazici late in second-half stoppage time as Lyon stretched its unbeaten run to six matches.
Upcoming Matches Around OL
Olympique Lyonnais vs. AS St-Étienne – Groupama Stadium, Décines-Charpieu, France – Sunday, November 8, 12:00 p.m. PT