This is one of the cheaper wines available in Tesco, although I mistakenly ordered a 50 cl bottle at £3.75. It is also available in a standard 75 cl bottle at £4.51. It’s decent value either way.
The wine is produced in the Valle Central region of Chile by Viña Cono Sur S.A. and imported to the United Kingdom by CYT UK Ltd. It’s a mixture of Sauvignon Blanc and Pedro Ximenez grapes into a refreshing white wine that is supposedly inspired by the coast.
According to the blurb on the rear label, there are ‘aromas and flavours of grapefruit, lime and gooseberry’ and it goes well with seafood and salad. We found it to be perfectly drinkable and would be happy to order it again as it’s very reasonably priced.
A look back at Olympique Lyonnais’ first ever visit to Britain, in October 1961.
Match Date: Wednesday 4th October 1961, K.O. 19:15. Venue: Hillsborough, Sheffield. Competition: Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (First Round, Second Leg)
Nineteen Sixty One had already been a momentous year. John F Kennedy had been inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States, Yuri Gagarin had become the first person in space, a wall had sprung up across Berlin and, in early October, Olympique Lyonnais arrived in Sheffield for their first ever match on British soil.
Back home, France could see light at the end of the tunnel as seven years of war in Algeria approached its denouement with a cease-fire negotiated by President Charles de Gaulle. In Britain, Harold Macmillan was in Number 10 and a cultural revolution was underway as the country drew a veil over the post-war austerity period and embraced the Swinging Sixties.
The first ever episode of Songs of Praise was broadcast on BBC1 on the Sunday evening prior to Lyon’s arrival in England, but the travelling party would have found a very different type of music sweeping the county. Ricky Valance was at number one in the charts with ‘Tell Laura I Love Her’, having displaced The Shadows and ‘Apache’ from top spot, and would in turn be unseated by Roy Orbison with ‘Only the Lonely’. Earlier that year, a young band called The Beatles had started to tour.
In the sporting world, Jacques Anquetil had just won the second of his five Tours de France, Benfica had become the first club other than Real Madrid to win the European Cup, and Bill Nicholson’s Tottenham had become the first team to complete the English League and FA Cup double since the turn of the century. Sir Stanley Rous was elected President of FIFA just six days before this match took place.
Context
There could hardly have been a bigger difference in pedigree between the two clubs. Formed in 1950, Lyon had only been around for eleven years and had just eight seasons in the top flight under their belt, with a highest finish of eighth, when they set foot in England for the first time. Their opponents, Sheffield Wednesday, were just six years shy of their centenary and had been English champions on four occasions, most recently in 1930.
Lyon had only finished fifteenth in Division 1 the previous season, but were invited to represent France in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup alongside Racing Club de Strasbourg, who had themselves only finished fourth in Division 2. The tournament, which was in its fourth edition, had been conceived as a competition between European cities that host trade fairs and consequently didn’t necessarily incorporate the highest placed teams from each country.
However, Sheffield Wednesday would have qualified for Europe on merit had it been based on final league positions alone, as they had been runners-up to the all-conquering Spurs team in the English First Division. This tie was Sheffield Wednesday’s very first taste of European competition. Lyon had been in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup twice previously, in 1958-59 and in 1960-61, but they had gone out at the first hurdle on both occasions.
Both clubs had changed manager during the previous summer. Wednesday’s Harry Catterick had jumped ship to Everton on the back of his success with The Owls, to be replaced by Vic Buckingham, who had returned to his homeland following his first stint with Ajax. Lyon had replaced Gabriel Robert with Manuel Fernández, who had previously been player-manager with the Saint-Etienne reserves.
The Form Book
Lyon had won the first leg of the tie 4-2 at the Stade de Gerland three weeks earlier. A goal from Angel Rambert followed by a brace from Eugène N’Jo Léa had put Lyon 3-0 up at half time, but Wednesday fought back in the second period with goals from Young and Ellis before Nestor Combin struck in the last minute to give Lyon a two goal advantage to take to England.
Lyon’s league form had been fairly inconsistent thus far, with five wins and four defeats in their opening nine Division 1 games, but they posed a potent attacking threat, having scored in every match, and had won two on the bounce going into this return leg. They won 2-1 away at Le Havre on the Sunday prior to their visit to Sheffield.
Sheffield Wednesday were having an average start to the season, having won four, drawn two and lost four of their opening ten games, but they were without a win in five going into the Lyon match and had been thrashed 4-1 at home by Ipswich Town on the Saturday before they faced the French outfit.
The Programme
The programme was thin pamphlet, priced at ‘tuppence’, which introduced the visiting team as ‘Olympique Lyons’ on the front cover and used the anglicised ‘Lyons’ version of the city name throughout. The centre spread displayed the expected line-ups for both teams opposite a column greeting the visitors and giving a bit of background information on the Fairs Cup competition. The back page article provided an overview of the Lyon team and French football in general.
Sheffield Wednesday v Lyon programme cover
Sheffield Wednesday v Lyon teams page in match programme
Lyon profile from Sheffield Wednesday programme
Lyon were welcomed as the first French visitors to Hillsborough, with the ground having previously hosted a dozen friendlies against opposition from elsewhere on the continent. The expected crowd of around 50,000 was urged ‘to help roar Wednesday to success‘ as the author reminded those in attendance that Lyon held a two goal lead and ‘will not surrender without putting up a bonny fight‘.
On the back page, the author remarked on ‘how little we know about French football‘ before summarising some major French contributions to world football development. With regards to the domestic game in the country, he posited that ‘in France professional players are numbered in hundreds compared to Britain’s thousands‘ and ‘the majority of people in this part of England never knew of the existence of Olympique Lyonnais‘ before the draw was made.
On the match itself, the author was expecting ‘a really menacing challenge‘ from Lyon and the programme identified four players to watch out for from the visiting squad, with the star man said to be Eugène N’Jo Léa. N’Jo Léa was described as ‘a 33-year-old coloured centre-forward‘ in the vernacular of the day. Unfortunately neither he nor the youngster Di Nallo (who was also singled out) would feature in this match.
The Lyon wingers also got an honourable mention with Robert Salen being described as ‘a little fellow‘ with ‘tremendous speed‘ and having ‘a perfect understanding‘ with the ‘South American‘ Angel Rambert on the opposite flank.
There were a couple of misprints in the team sheet section. Lyon striker Nestor Combin’s name was printed as ‘Combir’ and the referee was listed as ‘A Croffsman’ rather than Arthur Crossman from Edinburgh.
Match Report
Lyon struck an early blow under the floodlights at Hillsborough with a goal from Salen after only six minutes to put them 5-2 ahead on aggregate, leaving Sheffield Wednesday with a mountain to climb. Spurred into action, the Owls hit back almost immediately through a flicked header from Fantham. Griffin got their second before a penalty converted by McAnearney mid-way through the first half levelled the tie at 5-5 on aggregate with the momentum very much behind the home side.
Lyon managed to steady the ship and it was still nicely poised at the interval, with Wednesday leading 3-1 on the night but nothing to choose between the two teams overall. It stayed that way through much of the second period until man-of-the-match Colin Dobson scored a fourth for the Owls and precipitated a lively finale. Djorkaeff replied for Lyon three minutes later to make it six apiece on aggregate and it looked as though a play-off match might be required to separate the teams.
However, Sheffield Wednesday striker Johnny Fantham, who had won his first (and only) England cap six days earlier in a World Cup Qualifier against Luxembourg at Highbury, had other ideas. He headed home his second of the game with just five minutes left on the clock to make it 5-2 on the night and complete the turn-around for a 7-6 aggregate victory. The Lyon team felt there had been an infringement and contested the winner, but their protests fell on deaf ears and they were consigned to another first round exit from the competition.
Significance
Sheffield Wednesday went on to beat holders Roma 4-1 on aggregate in the second round before succumbing 3-4 on aggregate to eventual runners-up Barcelona in the quarter-finals. Both Lyon and Sheffield Wednesday were absent from European competition the following season, but were back on the scene in 1963-64 when Lyon made it to the semi-finals of the Cup Winners’ Cup and Wednesday to the second round of the Fairs Cup.
Lyon featured in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup on one further occasion, in the 1968-69 season, when they reached the second round, before the competition itself was discontinued at the end of the 1970-71 edition and replaced by the UEFA Cup. A short-lived UEFA Cup campaign in 1992-93 and a foray into the Intertoto Cup in 1995 are Sheffield Wednesday’s only other experiences of European competition, so their run to the Fairs Cup quarter-finals following this win over Lyon actually represents their best ever performance in Europe.
Lyon’s league form deteriorated following their trip to Hillsborough and they ended up finishing sixteenth of twenty teams in Division 1, avoiding relegation by three points. Manager Manuel Fernández was replaced by Lucien Jasseron at the end of the season. Sheffield Wednesday improved slightly and eventually finished in sixth place in the league table, ten points behind champions Ipswich Town.
The paths of Lyon and Sheffield Wednesday have yet to cross again since this match and Lyon didn’t return to Yorkshire for almost 57 years, until a pre-season friendly against Huddersfield in 2018.
The Sheffield Wednesday team that evening contained several players of note. Perhaps foremost among them was goalkeeper Ron Springett, who won thirty-three caps for England and was in the 1966 World Cup winning squad, belatedly receiving his winner’s medal in 2009.
Three players from the line-up – Alan Finney, Don Megson and Johnny Fantham – are in the top ten of all-time appearances for Wednesday and Fantham is the club’s top post-war goal-scorer. Don Megson’s son Gary would also play for (and manage) the club.
In addition to Springett and Fantham, Peter Swan and Tony Kay also won full England caps during their careers. However, the latter pair would soon become infamous for their involvement in a betting scandal that saw them serve time in prison. In December 1962 they agreed to ‘throw’ a match and placed money on Sheffield Wednesday losing against Ipswich, which they subsequently did, 2-0. They were sentenced to four months in custody when their scheme was uncovered in 1964 and also received life bans from football (later reduced to seven years on appeal).
The Lyon line-up contained two future club managers in Aimé Mignot, who would coach the club for seven and a half years between 1968 and 1976, and Marcel Le Borgne, who would have a short spell at the helm in 1988. Jean Djorkaeff was a future Saint-Étienne manager.
Naturalised Argentinians Nestor Combin and Angel Rambert both won international caps for France, as did Djorkaeff, who is the father of future France World Cup and European Championship winner Youri Djorkaeff. Rambert’s son Sebastián was also a professional footballer and he represented Argentina internationally in the 1990s.
Line-Ups
Sheffield Wednesday Ron Springett Don Megson Peter Johnson Tom McAnearney Peter Swan Tony Kay Bobby Craig Billy Griffin Alan Finney Johnny Fantham Colin Dobson
Manager Vic Buckingham – – – – –
Olympique Lyonnais Claude Hugues Aimé Mignot Raymond Gardon Roger Duffez Jean Djorkaeff Lucien Degeorges Robert Salen Bernard Roubaud Marcel Le Borgne Nestor Combin Angel Rambert
We got this wine as part of the Tesco Finest ‘dine in for £10’ meal deal, so it’s pretty good value considering it’s priced at £7 if bought alone, whereas you also get a main, side dish and dessert included in the deal.
Obviously they don’t put the best wines into this sort of deal, and I’m not sure it’s one that I’d buy outside of the deal, or pay the full £7 for, but it is perfectly drinkable.
It’s a blend of tempranillo and garnacha grapes and the label describes it as ‘a delicious and refreshing slightly sweet rosé bursting with raspberry and strawberry flavours’. It’s far from being my favourite rosé as it’s a little bit sweeter than my palate would like, but not so much as to make it unpleasant. I doubt I’ll make a habit of buying it other than as part of a meal deal though.
We got this wine as part of the Tesco Finest ‘dine in for £10’ meal deal, so it’s pretty good value considering it’s priced at £7 if bought alone, whereas you also get a main, side dish and dessert included in the deal.
Obviously they don’t put the best wines into this sort of deal, and I’m not sure it’s one that I’d buy outside of the deal, or pay the full £7 for, but it is perfectly drinkable.
The label describes it as ‘a refreshing white wine with a crisp dry character and flavours of zesty lemon and passion fruit’ . I’m not usually much of a Chardonnay fan, but as they go, this one isn’t too bad and I’ll probably find myself drinking it again given the limited selection available in the Tesco meal deal.
Olympique Lyonnais survived a late onslaught by a tenacious Brest side to escape from Brittany with a scarcely deserved 3-2 win and return to top spot in Ligue 1 ahead of the remainder of the weekend programme, which affords title rivals Lille and PSG the opportunity to leapfrog them again when they face Lorient and Monaco respectively.
It was a wet and blustery night by the Atlantic Ocean and the weather had a profound effect on proceedings. Lyon led 3-0 at the interval but were hanging on for dear life in the face of a strong Brest come-back by the end of the second period. However, it wasn’t so much of a game of two halves as a game of one end.
Both teams had chances aplenty throughout the encounter and it could easily have finished six apiece, with Brest perhaps shading it on the balance of play. The ball however, seemed destined to only enter the net at one end of the pitch, and it was the end towards which the forceful wind was blowing.
Lyon were playing with the wind behind them in the first half, yet it was Brest who made the best start and forced Anthony Lopes into a couple of fine saves early on. The visitors were struggling to get a foothold in the game when they were gifted the lead in bizarre circumstances as Brest goalkeeper Sebastien Cibois tried to turn Lucas Paqueta in his own six yard box but lost out to the Brazilian midfielder, who was left with a simple tap in.
The goal helped Lyon settle, although Brest still threatened regularly at the other end. Lyon began to combine more successfully in attack and forced another defensive error in the 29th minute allowing Depay to feed Aouar, who had a simple task to fire past Cibois and double the advantage.
The third goal came just before half time when Depay was played in behind the Brest defence by Bruno Guimaraes and knocked the ball past Cibois only to be brought down by the hapless ‘keeper. Depay got up to take the penalty himself and made no mistake from the spot to give Lyon a very flattering 3-0 half time lead.
With the wind behind them, Brest came out with intent in the second half and showed great belief that they could stage a come-back. They got their reward after only eight minutes when centre-back Brendan Chardonnet, still forward from a corner, headed a Franck Honorat cross past Lopes.
Lyon’s nerves really started to jangle in the 74th minute when Irvin Cardona, played on by Mattia De Sciglio, beat the offside trap and fired a venomous shot past Lopes to reduce the deficit to one. From that point on Brest laid siege to the Lyon goal to make it an extremely stressful final twenty minutes for Lyon fans as their team desperately clung onto the slender advantage.
I swear I’m going to have a heart attack watching Lyon try to close out a game one of these days. They never looked comfortable, although they did threaten at times on the break and should have done better with a couple of chances to wrap things up. Eventually, after six minutes of stoppage time, the referee finally brought a halt to proceedings and Lyon were back to winning ways.
This is a lovely smooth red wine produced by Gorka Etxebarria in the Rioja region of Spain. It’s a crianza, which means that it has been aged for at least twenty-four months with at least six of them in oak barrels at the winery. It was a good accompaniment to the roast pork we had for dinner and it’s definitely one that we wouldn’t hesitate to buy again.
Lyon travel to the Stade Francis-Le Blé tonight to take on a Brest side who currently sit twelfth in the Ligue 1 table and are unbeaten in their last three league matches (a win and two draws). Lyon are looking to bounce back from a disappointing home defeat to Montpellier last weekend.
Brazilian central-defender Marcelo is the only absentee from the travelling squad, having limped off during the first half of last weekend’s fixture. Jason Denayer is likely to return to the starting line-up in his place, following his own recovery from injury. Brest will be without the services of Lyon loanee Jean Lucas in midfield as the terms of his loan don’t permit him to appear against his parent club.
When the two teams met earlier this season at the Groupama Stadium it finished as a 2-2 draw, as did last season’s corresponding fixture in Brest. Lyon haven’t lost to Brest since a trip to Brittany for a Division 1 match way back in 1991.
The referee for tonight’s game is Frank Schneider, who last officiated a Lyon match back in March 2020 when OL won the derby 2-0 against Saint-Étienne at the Groupama Stadium and Lyon haven’t lost any of their last seven matches with him in the middle.
The match will be shown live on BT Sport and kicks off at 20:00 UK time.
A look back at Olympique Lyonnais’ visit to the south coast of England in Summer 2019.
Match Date: Saturday 3rd August 2019, K.O. 15:30. Venue: The Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth.
Less than a week after their Emirates Cup win in London, Lyon returned to British soil for a first ever meeting with Bournemouth. Canadian/Cuban-American duo Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello were at the top of the charts with their Latin Pop hit ‘Señorita’, Boris Johnson was ten days into his reign as Prime Minister, with a parliamentary majority of one over a fractious opposition led by Jeremy Corbyn, the ongoing Brexit negotiations showed little sign of progress, and double winners Manchester City were preparing to face Liverpool in the Community Shield at Wembley on the Sunday afternoon. Down in Dorset it was a seasonably pleasant, sunny day by the sea, with the temperature peaking at 20°c and a moderate breeze.
Context
Lyon had finished third in Ligue 1 the previous season, which was enough to qualify directly for the UEFA Champions League group stage, albeit a distant nineteen points behind champions Paris Saint-Germain. Manager Bruno Génésio had departed after two and a half years at the helm, to be replaced by the Brazilian Sylvinho in his first appointment as a club coach. Lyon had been active in the transfer market, bringing in Thiago Mendes and Youssouf Koné from Lille, as well as Joachim Andersen, Jean Lucas and Ciprian Tătărușanu. This was part of a major rebuilding project following the departure of star players such as Nabil Fekir, Tanguy Ndombele and Ferland Mendy over the summer.
Bournemouth were preparing to commence their fifth successive season as a Premier League club, having finished in fourteenth place at the end of the previous campaign. Their major transfer activity had seen them lose Tyrone Mings and Lys Mousset but bring in Arnaut Danjuma, Lloyd Kelly, Jack Stacey, Jordan Zemura and Philip Billing.
The Form Book
This was Lyon’s fifth and final friendly prior to the 2019-20 campaign, and their third against English opposition. Their pre-season form under new manager Sylvinho had been disappointing thus far, with defeats against Servette and Genoa preceding the 2-1 win over Arsenal in the Emirates Cup. Three days later, Lyon lost 3-1 to Liverpool in Geneva before returning to the UK for this fixture. Goal scoring didn’t seem to have been a problem, but the lack of a clean sheet showed that there was plenty of work still to be done.
Bournemouth were playing their sixth and final pre-season friendly, having beaten Wimbledon and lost to Girona during a short break in Catalonia, before a goalless draw with West Brom and a 3-1 win over Brentford, both away. The Lyon match was the second part of a double-header at The Vitality Stadium that saw the Cherries face Italian side Lazio and Lyon on consecutive days, with the Roman outfit having shaded the previous evening’s match 4-3.
The Programme
The programme was an unusual affair, priced at £1.50 and featuring young Bournemouth forward Sam Surridge on the front cover, it actually unfolded into a large Premier League fixtures poster with eight ‘pages’ of matchday content on the reverse rather than assuming the traditional booklet format.
Bournemouth v Lyon programme cover
Bournemouth v Lyon programme back cover
Lyon team profile from Bournemouth programme
Nathan Ake’s column from the Bournemouth v Lyon programme
Bournemouth’s Dutch defender Nathan Ake provided the introductory column, in which he anticipated ‘a good test’ from Lyon and looked forward to the chance to meet up with his international team mates Memphis Depay and Kenny Tete.
Two of the pages were dedicated to to Lyon, with Memphis Depay identified as the ‘dangerman’ and Houssem Aouar as the man to watch for the future. There were also mentions of Lyon’s seven consecutive title wins, the prestige of their youth academy, their all-conquering women’s team and the city’s reputation as the gastronomic capital of the world.
There was a small misprint on the back cover below the squad lists where the referee was listed as ‘Dean Whiteside’, rather than Dean Whitestone, a football league referee and police officer from Northampton, who officiated the match.
Match Report
Lyon sent out a strong line-up in a 4-2-3-1 formation at The Vitality Stadium (formerly Dean Court) against a Bournemouth team who rotated all eleven starters from their previous evening’s match against Lazio. The visitors had the better of the opening exchanges and were the first to threaten when Bertrand Traore had a shot saved and Dembele put the rebound wide in the second minute.
However, Lyon soon found themselves on the back foot and went behind in the eleventh minute when Kilkenny won possession in the middle of the park and fed Ofoborh, who in turn found Callum Wilson with space to shoot inside the Lyon box. The Cherries’ main dangerman made no mistake and fired past Anthony Lopes to open the scoring.
There was precious little joy for Lyon from that point on, and the youngster Kilkenny doubled the advantage eight minutes later, with an assist from Wilson. Bournemouth created several more chances to add to their lead as the half wore on, but Lopes was equal to them this time and Memphis Depay was denied by Ramsdale at the other end as Lyon searched for a way back into the match.
The start of the second period was a tighter affair and Lyon enjoyed a higher share of the possession but were still unable to create many openings of their own. Wilson and King had chances for the home side before Martin Terrier sent a low shot just wide of the post mid-way through the half. Both teams had started to make a few substitutions by the time King effectively wrapped up the game in the 73rd minute, capitalising on some risky passing across their own goalmouth by Lyon to catch Joachim Andersen in possession and tap home from close range.
Lyon managed to tighten up defensively after the late introductions of Tousart and Caqueret, but by then the damage had been done, and they were well beaten by a sharp looking Bournemouth team.
Significance
As an indication of how things were to unfold under Sylvinho over the next couple of months, this result was fairly portentous. Taken alone, or in conjunction with their other pre-season results, it didn’t bode well for the upcoming campaign and suggested that the rookie manager was still a long way from identifying his best starting eleven.
Therefore it was something of a surprise when Lyon raced out of the starting blocks in Ligue 1 a week later with 3-0 and 6-0 victories over Monaco and Angers respectively in the opening rounds. Briefly it seemed that Sylvinho had stumbled upon the winning formula, but that was to be as good as it got for the Brazilian in Lyon as he failed to oversee any further wins in the league and was sacked following a derby defeat to Saint-Étienne just two months into the season.
Bournemouth, for their part, made a good start to the Premier League season off the back of this win and they were in the top half of the table until a slump that began in early November, just as Lyon were getting back on track under new manager Rudi Garcia. From that point on the fortunes of the two clubs diverged dramatically. Few who witnessed Bournemouth’s comprehensive dismantling of Lyon on the eve of the season would have predicted that the former would end up getting relegated and the latter would make the Champions League semi-finals.
It just goes to show that a well-timed managerial change can transform the trajectory of a season. Also, that you probably shouldn’t try and read too much into friendly match results.
Line-Ups
Bournemouth Aaron Ramsdale Adam Smith Steve Cook Nathan Ake Diego Rico Gavin Kilkenny Philip Billing Nnamdi Ofoborh Arnaut Danjuma Joshua King Callum Wilson Substitutes Artur Boruc (Ramsdale 45′) Corey Jordan (Billing 60′) Alex Dobre (Cook 67′) Sam Surridge (Wilson 75′) Jordan Zemura (Smith 75′) Sam Sherring (King 86′) Will Dennis
A spectacular injury time winner from Lyon right-back Leo Dubois snatched a last gasp victory against Bordeaux at the Groupama Stadium on Friday night.
The France international had advanced down the right flank and into a little bit of space inside the visitors’ penalty area when a speculative cross from substitute Maxwel Cornet found its way into his path. If Dubois’ first touch was sublime in teeing the ball up nicely for himself then his second was was the embodiment of perfection as he smacked the ball back across goal and in off the top of the far post from an almost impossible angle.
There was little time for Bordeaux to respond and the three points took Lyon back to the top of the Ligue 1 table ahead of PSG and Lille’s matches later in the weekend. It was a goal fit to win any game, although this wasn’t a game that Lyon particularly deserved to win. Once again they were lacklustre at home and a draw would have been a fair result on the balance of play.
The first half was a cagey affair with neither team offering much creativity in the final third. Lyon dominated the possession but struggled to break down a resolute Bordeaux defence. The opening goal came courtesy of a corner from the left just after the half hour mark. It was taken quickly and Depay carried the ball into the box before lifting it into the danger zone. Laurent Koscielny made a mess of his attempted clearance and the ball dropped invitingly to Karl Toko Ekambi who gratefully accepted the chance to poke it home from close range.
Lyon lead at the interval but the most worrying aspect of the first half had been the early departure of centre-back Jason Denayer with what looked like a hamstring injury. He was replaced by Sinaly Diomandé alongside Marcelo in the back four but could be a big loss for OL if he’s absent for a long period.
Bordeaux were much more positive in the second period and their former Lyon midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa started to impose himself on the game and pull a few strings in midfield. His through ball created a good opening that Hwang spurned after a mix up in the Lyon defence and soon after that Thiago Mendes gave the ball away cheaply on the edge of his box, allowing Bordeaux to work it through to Samuel Kalu, who blasted home from close range.
Bordeaux probably had the better chances to go on and win the tie after drawing level, but Leo Dubois had other ideas and his late strike keeps Lyon firmly in the title race with winnable games against Dijon and Strasbourg to come.
Lyon swept aside Saint-Etienne with a crushing 5-0 win at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard to complete a Ligue 1 double over their bitter rivals and maintain the pressure on PSG and Lille at the top of the table.
Back in November, Lyon had won this season’s first edition of the Rhône-Alpes derby 2-1 at the Groupama Stadium and they piled yet more misery onto their hapless opponents with a repeat of November 2017’s 5-0 rout in this fixture.
Aside from a great chance in the opening minute and a shot against the post in the second half, Saint-Etienne put up little visible resistance and for most of the encounter it looked like men against boys, such was the chasm between the two teams.
Lyon controlled the game and dominated possession throughout, cutting their opponents open at will. Tino Kadewere opened the scoring in the 16th minute, poking in a corner from close range, and Marcelo doubled the advantage in the 36th minute with a towering header from another set piece, this time a free-kick from the right by Dubois.
The Brazilian centre-back repeated the trick in the second half, once again converting a free-kick from Dubois on the right flank and Kadewere grabbed his own second of the game in the 68th minute when he was picked out by Depay, beat his defender and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way before rolling it in at the near post.
Depay got in on the act himself when his 82nd minute free-kick ended up in the back of the net, although it was helped on by the head of Saint-Etiennes’s Denis Bouanga and may go down as an own goal. That completed the scoring, although Lyon could easily have had a few more. The only other event of note was a late debut off the bench for Lyon academy graduate Malo Gusto.
Despite there having been multiple substitutions and a few other stoppages in the second half, referee Benoît Bastien decided to put Les Verts out of their misery and didn’t add on any additional time at the end of the ninety minutes. Perhaps the recent Covid outbreak in the Saint-Etienne camp partly explains why their performance was so limp today, but whatever their excuses, it has to be said that Lyon were on top form.
The occasion didn’t really have the feel of a derby. The absence of supporters in the stadium due to the pandemic left the atmosphere flat and the match was too one-sided to be much of a spectacle. It’s the fans who make a derby different from a normal match and it’s a shame they were missing today.
