Fans don’t care about how you play as long as you get a win over the enemy. That will be the feeling among the Olympique Lyonnais fans who are celebrating a slender 1-0 win over Saint-Etienne, their bitter rivals.The Greens made the 50 kilometres trip in a bid to change their fortunes and kickstart a survival run that would see them escape the bottom of the table, but they simply weren’t good enough to prevent yet another demoralising defeat.🦁🔴 THE DERBY IS OURS 🔵🦁 A 1-0 victory tonight against ASSE and a second successive victory in @Ligue1_ENG! 💪 @MDembele_10’s penalty the difference! ⚽1-0 #OLASSE pic.twitter.com/a7fZaRVdIB— Olympique Lyonnais 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@OL_English) January 21, 2022 Attacker Moussa Dembele tricked the Greens’ captain Timothee Kolodziejczak into committing a foul in the box – a moment that surely made Saint-Etienne fans wonder if they were still fielding professional footballers or a bunch of inexperienced kids. A naïve and clumsy foul by your skipper in such a pivotal game surely is the last thing you want to see.Dembele placed the ball on the spot and dispatched the penalty with ease, sending goalkeeper Paul Bernardoni the wrong way. It was to prove the only goal of the match.As you’d expect from a derby game, there were many moments of tension and confrontation, but the hosts’ captain Leo Dubois sustained two painful blows from his own teammates! First, he was on the receiving end of a bad clash of heads with defender Damien Da Silva on the half-hour mark. Just before the break he’s had to be substituted after sustaining what looked like a broken nose after goalscorer Dembele went straight into the captain’s face with his hip while making a clearance.⏳ #10YearChallenge ⌛️ #OLASSE pic.twitter.com/Ux6yBmkN9q— Ligue 1 Uber Eats (@Ligue1UberEats) January 21, 2022 The applause for the captain would have been a huge one, but there were only 5,000 fans in the Groupama Arena stands due to Covid restrictions. Nevertheless, Dubois’ sacrifice is exactly what the fans want to see in the battle against the enemy.Elsewhere on the pitch, Lyon trickster Houssem Aouar tormented the shaky Greens’ defence, but for all the domination, Lyon still only held a slender 1-0 lead as the game entered the final 20 minutes.A few more chances came for both teams, but poor finishing was evident on both sides. For all the passion and tension, the main problem of both sides is a glaring lack of confidence. However, Lyon fans won’t’ care tonight. They got one over their biggest rivals and ensured their seventh loss in a row. After nearly two decades in Ligue 1, Saint-Etienne’s survival in the top French division seems less and less likely by the day.LIGUE 1 – ROUND 22FridayOlympique Lyonnais – Saint-Etienne 1-0 (1-0)/Dembele 15 pen/Saturday19:00: (3.45) Brest (3.40) Lille (2.25)23:00: (2.65) Lens (3.25) Olympique Marseille (2.90)Sunday15:00: (5.40) Metz (3.70) Nice (1.75)17:00: (2.20) Angers (3.15) Troyes (3.90)17:00: (4.40) Clermont (3.60) Rennes (1.90)17:00: (4.00) Bordeaux (3.60) Strasbourg (2.00)17:00: (2.25) Nantes (3.15) Lorient (3.80)19:05: (3.80) Montpellier (3.50) Monaco (2.10)22:45: (1.25) PSG (6.75) Reims (13.0)****odds are subject to change
