PLAYER REVIEWS | Toulouse 1-2 Lyon: Super sub Malick Fofana gets three points for lucky OL

Olympique Lyonnais travel to Toulouse on Sunday afternoon hoping to build momentum after a comfortable 2-0 win over Olympiacos in the Europa League in midweek.

Les Violets opened the scoring after Vincent Sierro made a perfectly timed pass and Yann Gboho, who made no mistake in finishing, went beyond Perri and left the Lyon defender no chance. The home team continued to press and search for a while, but against the run of play it would be Les Gones who equalized. Rasmus Nicolaisen directed Kumbedi’s cross into the Toulouse net. OL equalized without shooting at the Toulouse goal. It was level at half-time.

Thanks to the promising play of the striker, Toulouse retained most of the attacking opportunities, and the game continued to be balanced in the second half. Les Gones had 2 shots in the first 80 minutes of the match, as the home team looked like the team with the highest chance of winning. This almost happened as a deflected shot appeared to be heading towards goal, even if it wasn’t a good stop from Perri.

However, Lyon would find the winner in death. Substitute Malick Fofana’s shot was almost cleared off the line by Suazo, but it wasn’t enough as goal-line technology confirmed the Belgian had scored. A goal against the run of play as Lyon came away with an undeserved lead. Cherki got involved in some great play early on to create the opportunity.

Fofana’s late goal would be enough to secure Lyon’s second win this season and take the three points away despite their poor performance.

Lyon’s player ratings:

Lucas Perri-4

Saël Kumbedi – 6The young French, who had long maintained a negative attitude, showed why they should be in contention. Offensively, the France U20 international was a bright spark in an unexciting performance. His cross was responsible for creating the equalizer.

Clinton Mata-4The Angola national team looks extremely uncomfortable as they continue to play out of position. As part of the fragile defence, much of the right-back defense was last ditch or panicked. He was unable to contain Gboho in the first half, which was evident in the opening goal of the match.

Duje Ćaleta-Car – 6

Avner – 5

Maxence Caqueret – 4

Tanner Tesmann – 5

Jordan Veretout – 4

Wilfried Zaha – 4It wasn’t the Ligue 1 debut the Ivorian had hoped for. The former Crystal Palace attacker was left on the sidelines for most of the match and struggled to influence the game. He was ultimately substituted just after half-time.

Georges Mikautadze – 4

Said Benrahama – 5

GFFN | Liam Wraith