LYON: An Ainsley Maitland-Niles penalty 16 minutes into second-half added time gave Olympique Lyonnais a stunning 4-3 win against Brest on Sunday, pushing the home team up to within two points of the European spots.

It was a topsy-turvy affair in which the lead switched hands three times before Lyon eventually emerged victors well beyond the original allotted period of added time to stun second-placed Brest at the Groupama Stadium.

Corentin Tolisso opened the scoring before Steve Mounie and Romain Del Castillo struck in the space of seven minutes to give Brest a 3-1 lead but Alexandre Lacazette, Nicolas Tagliafico and Maitland-Niles hit back in the final 20 minutes to grab all three points for Lyon.

Pierre Sage’s side sit seventh and, after an appalling start to the Ligue 1 season, now have a realistic chance of qualifying for European football next term.

“It shows us that anything is possible with this team looking towards the end of the season,” said Lyon boss Sage.

The defeat leaves Brest still in second place but 10 points off leaders Paris Saint-Germain and one point ahead of third-placed Monaco, both of whom have a game in hand.

“We’re being taken for fools. It’s a difficult evening but we’ve been through others this season already,” bemoaned Brest coach Eric Roy, who was angry his team were not awarded an early penalty for a handball appeal against Lyon’s Jake O’Brien.

“We’ve been dealt a few blows by unfavourable decisions but that’s football today.”

Both sides finished with 10 men apiece after Tagliafico and Pierre Lees-Melou saw red for an altercation in the 86th minute.

Lyon claimed for a penalty deep into injury time after the Brest ‘keeper cleaned out Lacazette, injuring the Lyon captain.

After a lengthy VAR review, the referee pointed to the spot and Maitland-Niles made no mistake from 12 yards to claim all three points for Lyon in the 16th minute of injury time.

Meanwhile, an injury-time winner gave Nantes a precious victory away to Le Havre as Antoine Kombouare’s side went three points clear of the 15th-placed hosts and five clear of Lorient in the relegation play-off spot.

Abdoul Kader Bamba fired home three minutes into injury-time at the end of the second half to give a Nantes a crucial 1-0 victory.

“Le Havre could have won... we were able to push our limits and snatch three points out of nowhere,” said Nantes coach Kombouare.

The result leaves Le Havre two points ahead of Lorient with the 16th-placed side having played one less match.

Elsewhere, Clermont Foot picked up a point at home to Montpellier following a 1-1 draw but remained rooted to the bottom of the Ligue 1 table and six points from safety.

Muhammed Cham put the home team ahead going into the break with a penalty five minutes into first-half added time, before Tanguy Coulibaly levelled matters for Montpellier in the 56th minute.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2024