PARIS: Jeff Reine-Adelaide’s influence continued to grow at Olympique Lyonnais as he scored the winner in a 2-1 Ligue 1 victory at Racing Strasbourg on Saturday.
Midfielder Reine-Adelaide, who joined from Angers during the close season, netted 15 minutes from time after Maxwel Cornet had cancelled out Youssouf Fofana’s opener for Strasbourg in the first half.
Reine-Adelaide has been involved in four goals in Lyon’s last four league games with two goals and two assists, helping his team move up to sixth in the standings with 22 points from 15 matches.
Angers are third on 24 points after they wasted a one-goal lead in a 3-1 loss at Nice, one point and one spot ahead of Montpellier who beat Amiens 4-2 at La Mosson.
Lille bounced back from a 2-0 home defeat by Ajax Amsterdam in the Champions League with a 1-0 win over Dijon courtesy of a Victor Osimhen penalty deep into first-half stoppage time to lift the northeners up to seventh on 22 points.
In Strasbourg, Fofana put the hosts ahead in the 21st minute with a fine low cross shot as Lyon were overwhelmed in midfield after a 2-0 defeat at Zenit St Petersburg in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Just as they seemed about to crack again, however, the visitors equalised when Cornet curled a shot into the net from just inside the area five minutes before the break.
Rudi Garcia’s team stepped up a gear after the interval and they were rewarded in the 75th minute when 21-year-old Reine-Adelaide headed home from point-blank range from Cornet’s cross, giving Lyon their fourth win in their last six Ligue 1 matches.
The result left Strasbourg in 13th place on 18 points.
Lyon lost French international defender Leo Dubois to a serious knee injury in the second half and coach Garcia praised his team’s solidarity.
“They shook us in the first half but there is a lot to be happy about. Maxwel Cornet was decisive again. The only answer after the Champions League defeat could only come from the pitch and that’s what happened,” Garcia told reporters.
Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2019
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