Lyon manager Paulo Fonseca handed debuts to two new signings in his starting XI for the visit of Angers on matchday five of the Ligue 1 season. Slovak goalkeeper Dominik Greif, signed from Mallorca, came in to replace Rémy Descamps, who picked up an injury in the defeat at Rennes. Up front there was a debut for Uruguayan striker Martín Satriano, who joined on loan from Lens.
For the first time since March, Fonseca was allowed inside the Lyon dressing room before the match and during half time as that aspect of his lengthy ban has finally expired. However, he’s still not allowed on the touchline during matches for another couple of months, so once again he was forced to follow proceedings from the press tribune.
Lyon were strong favourites before the match and they proceeded to dominate possession during the first forty five minutes without managing to create any clear-cut chances. They did have the ball in the net in the 21st minute via a Tagliafico header, but it was ruled out for a handball by Niakhaté in the build-up. The only other action of note was a nasty late tackle on Fofana by Angers defender Carlens Arcus, who escaped with just a yellow card.
The home side continued to toil away after the interval and started to create shooting opportunities more regularly but the visiting defence continued to hold firm until the introduction of Czech international Pavel Šulc in the 65th minute. His first task was to deliver a corner from the left and it found the head of Satriano, who forced a good save from Angers goalkeeper Hervé Koffi, diving low to his left. Tanner Tessmann was first to react and he expertly guided the rebound just inside of the far post to open the scoring.
Satriano, who had been anonymous during the first half, came close again a few minutes after the goal when he hit the woodwork from a narrow angle on the right. The rebound fell just out of reach for Fofana, who almost had a tap-in to an open goal. The game really should have been done and dusted in the 79th minute when Maitland-Niles received the ball on the right of the six yard box with only Koffi to beat but he steered his shot agonisingly wide of the far post.
There was a third debutant for Lyon in the closing stages when academy product Mathys de Carvalho came off the bench to replace Tolisso in midfield. He was joined by another youngster, forward Enzo Molebe, making only his third appearance for the club. It was therefore a youthful and inexperienced Lyon team that was charged with seeing out the final few minutes to secure the three points.
The earlier misses meant that it was a more uncomfortable final few minutes than it needed to be for the home fans. Angers launched their inevitable late charge and came mightily close to finding an equaliser through Lanroy Machine in the fourth minute of stoppage time. The striker, who had only just come off the bench, saw his powerful effort tipped onto the post by Greif, and out for a corner.
That corner produced another major scare for Lyon right at the death when it fell to Ekomié at the far post. Greif, who had been a spectator for much of the game, pulled another smart save out of the bag to preserve his clean sheet and see Lyon move back to joint top of the Ligue 1 table ahead of the other matchday five fixtures over the weekend.