We left them, on August 30, sparkling on the European scene, pocketing a seventh Champions League, the fifth in a row, by winning against Wolfsburg (3-1). We found them in this same continental competition, Wednesday, December 9, but much less domineering.
For their entry into the 2020-2021 edition, at the level of the round of 16, the footballers of Olympique Lyonnais (OL) won in extremis (3-2) against Juventus, in the first leg in Turin. Led by the score for a good part of the meeting (1-2 until the 67th minute of play), they took the advantage only in the 88th minute.
“We know that the Juventus team is well organized. We know it won’t be easy, but we are coming here to win ”, had declared before the match Wendie Renard, the captain of the OL. The Lyonnaises, who played without their attacker, Eugénie Le Sommer, injured, but also without the Norwegian Ada Hegerberg (in rehabilitation after a broken tibia), were jostled in defense in the first half and committed several blunders paving the way to adverse counter-attacks. Juventus’ 2-1 goal came after a loss of a ball from Lyon.
In mid-August, OL had easily disposed of the Turinese (3-0) in a preparation match for the “Final-8” of the 2019-2020 edition of the Champions League, a competition in which the Italian team had not passed the stage of the round of 16.
But this fall is a more disturbed one for OL. In the French league, the Lyonnaises had already shown some signs of feverishness: they were beaten by PSG (1-0) on November 20.
The second leg against Juventus Turin will take place in Lyon in a week, Tuesday, December 15.
