A penalty from Ainsley Maitland-Niles at the end of added time allowed Lyon to overthrow Brest 4-3 on Sunday in one of the finest matches of the Ligue 1 season, enough to keep OL’s European dream alive .
Thanks to this success in its Groupama Stadium against the L1 runner-up, Lyon moved up to 7th place during this 29th day.
The end of this match, very electric with two expulsions, was also marked by the injury exit of Alexandre Lacazette after a rough exit from goalkeeper Marco Bizot causing the penalty awarded by the referee Mathieu Vernice after consultation with the VAR (90 +16).
If Brest, which led 3-1 in the 68th minute, retains its second place with a lead over Monaco (3rd), OL climbs to 7th place with 41 points, two lengths behind Lens (6th).
The Lyonnais opened the scoring through Corentin Tolisso after a free kick from Saïd Benrahma poorly negotiated by the Brest defense (18), the second goal this season for Tolisso in 21 appearances.
Lacazette determinant
But Lacazette was again decisive and we will have to see the nature of his injury and the duration of his possible unavailability with a view to the final of the Coupe de France and the rest of the championship with matches to be played in Paris, against Monaco and Lille.
Because it was again the Rhone striker who revived his team in the second half by reducing the score to 3-2 thanks to his fifteenth goal in L1 (70th) after a cross delivered from the right wing by Rayan Cherki barely entered game.
In the meantime, Brest had reversed the situation to equalize before leading by two goals.
Steve Mounié tied the two teams by heading a free kick from Romain Del Castillo (1-1, 60th). A specialist in aerial play, Mounié has scored five of his six headed goals this season and approximately 50% of his career goals in this way.
Trained at OL without ever having had a chance as a professional before leaving for Bourg (L2), Nîmes (L2) then Rennes, Del Castillo then scored a double.
In addition to his decisive pass to Mounié, he gave the Bretons the advantage by converting a direct free kick (2-1, 64th) before bringing the score to 3-1 by concluding a great collective action from the Brest camp and which put the Lyon defense out of reach (67th).
Returning to 3-2, OL never gave up and it was the Argentinian defender, Nicolas Tagliafico who equalized at 3-3 with a cross shot from the left after a pass from Cherki (79th).
The latter had a goal ball at the end of his foot, but he sent the ball over despite a very favorable position in the goal area (84th).
At the end of the game, Tagliafico and Pierre Lees-Melou were sent off after a scuffle (86th) before Lacazette obtained this famous penalty transformed by Maitland-Niles for his first goal in Ligue 1 in 18 appearances.