‘They played superbly’ : Pierre Sage full of pride after Lyon victory
Olympique Lyonnais coach Pierre Sage spoke of his pride in his team following their 3-2 victory over AS Monaco.
Les Gones had to dig deep after going 1-0 down to a Wissam Ben Yedder strike inside 1 minute and then being pegged back with an equaliser from the same player in the second half, after first half goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Said Benrahma had turned the encounter in the home side’s favour. In the end, it was Malick Fofana’s 84th minute effort that sealed the three points for Lyon and kept their slim homes of qualification for Europe alive.
Speaking to Prime Video after the game, Sage reflected on a hard-earned win and the effort and commitment of his players:
“There is pride because we beat a very strong opponent, an opponent with alot of quality. The players delivered a superb game. The fans at the game and watching on TV must have appreciated this moment. It was an open match in which there could have been even more goals for either team, so I’m very happy and proud of the victory.”
The former Lyon youth coach made important and decisive interventions to turn the game in his side’s favour, introducing wingers Mama Baldé and winning goalscorer Malick Fofana to stretch the visitors in wide areas:
” It was connected to the freshness of offensive players. We brought on two wingers. As soon as we start lacking energy in the press, we have a tendency to sit back and play safe, especially when we’re winning. It’s more of a psychological and athletic thing than a tactical aspect. As soon as there were changes, we took back the initiative, even if there were times where we had to retreat into a low block and target our attacks. Our idea was to continue to attack because we knew we could score more goals.”
Lyon’s
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