PLAYER RATINGS | Lyon 0-0 Strasbourg: OL secure semi-final progression on penalties

Lyon were hoping to make it 6 wins in a row and continue their stellar run of form under Pierre Sage as they faced Patrick Vieira’s Strasbourg in the Coupe de France Quarter Final. 

After a frontfooted start from Lyon, Benrahma had Les Gones‘ first shot of the game but it was speculative and was no trouble for the Bellaarouch in the Strasbourg goal. Seconds after, Benrahma turned creator as he teed up Caqueret for an effort on the edge of the area, but the midfielder sliced his effort wide of the target. 

Besides these opportunities in the opening minutes, Lyon were rather frustrated despite retaining possession well and Strasbourg offering little on the counter. Vieria’s men were set up into a low block in front of the box, meaning OL were often forced to play in front of the Strasbourg defence or push play wide to try and evade Strasbourg’s blue wall in front of their box. This resulted in the scores being level at the break. 

Benrahma continued to look lively in the second half and almost opened the scoring with a bending effort, after cutting in from the left flank, but his shot was just narrowly wide. Benrahma came the closest to scoring in the 56th minute as he hit the post directly from a corner. The fact this was the closest OL had come to scoring at that point showed their true frustration in front of goal and the effectiveness of Strasbourg’s containing defensive set-up.

Lyon had a great opportunity with 7 minutes to go as Benrahma managed to beat his marker and shape a shot from a close distance but his effort was quickly closed down. Carnage broke out after a Strasbourg free kick that was deflected wide, with Ćaleta-Car and Sissoko squabbling but the kafuffle was quickly broken up.

The two sides could not be