Sunday, April 18, 2021 at 10:53 PM• Chris Meijer

Olympique Lyon emphatically continues to participate in the battle for the French national title. Les Gones made no mistake when visiting FC Nantes – the number before last of the Ligue 1 -: 1-2. The big man on the side of Olympique Lyon was Memphis Depay, who by two goals raises his season total in the league to eighteen and thus keeps his team in the footsteps of Lille OSC, Paris Saint-Germain and AS Monaco.

Lille surprisingly left points at home against Montpellier on Friday evening, which kept the leader of the Ligue 1 at 1-1. PSG (3-2 win over Saint-Étienne) and Monaco (0-3 win over Girondins de Bordeaux) already benefited from the point loss of les Dogues. Olympique Lyon was able to reduce the deficit to Lille to three points and had an energetic start in Nantes, because after five minutes of play there was a lead on the scoreboard.

Lucas Paquetá found Depay with a through ball in the penalty area. The captain outwitted the released goalkeeper Alban Lafont with a quick foot movement and placed the ball in the far corner. After Maxence Caqueret had missed an opportunity, the visitors with 37 minutes left on the clock had a great opportunity to double the margin. Karl Toko Ekambi was knocked out by Lafont. Depay was allowed to build from eleven meters and made no mistake: 0-2. Despite a possibility for Paquetá, the score was not further increased before half time.

Depay and Ekambi failed to decide the game in the first phase of the second half. Nantes therefore stayed alive and came back into the game after 61 minutes of play. Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes initially turned a header from Randal Kolo nicely, but had no chance on the rebound of Nicolas Pallois. With fifteen minutes to go, Olympique Lyon was close to 1-3. However, Fábio took a bet from Islam Slimani off the line. Despite the fact that Houssem Aouar left one more chance to end the game, Olympique Lyon managed to pull the victory over the line.