Thursday, April 8, 2021 at 9:08 PM• Mart Oude Nijeweeme • Last update: 21:21

Olympique Lyon qualified for the quarter finals of the Coupe de France on Thursday evening with great difficulty. The team of trainer Rudi Garcia seemed to be heading for a simple cup victory for a long time when visiting Red Star, but after a 2-2 score in ninety minutes it needed penalties to overcome the third divisionist: 4-5. Memphis Depay took the second goal on the stroke of half time, but saw how Lyon was no longer a shadow of the team that led 0-2 at half time.

Garcia did not come up with his strongest eleven and preferred goalkeeper Julian Pollersbeck, who also defended the goal in the cup tournament against Sochaux (5-2). Pollersbeck saw how the first real chance of the game immediately led to the opening goal, when Lucas Paquetá hit goal after half an hour of play. The attacker took full advantage of a dramatic kick out from reserve goalkeeper Raphaël Adiceam, who just pushed the ball into Thiago Mendes’ feet. It was then a breeze for Paquetá to slide the leather into the left corner: 0-1.

Lyon had nothing to fear from Red Star in the first half and could blame itself for not throwing the match in the slot before half-time. Just before half time, Depay managed to double the score. The captain was served by Paquetá after fumbling in the home team’s defense and was able to slide in before an empty goal: 0-2. Just before that, Depay already had an imposed opportunity to score with his head, but he did not have his sights on it. In the second half, Lyon still seemed to run to a big score, when Depay again had the ball in front of Paquetá on a pass from Paquetá. The attacker only had to find a corner, but saw his bet taken off the line by Edouard Daillet.

Not much later it was hit on the other side. Depay lost the ball and saw how Pape Meïssa Ba pushed the connection goal into the right corner on a pass from Jimmy Roye. The party became complete for the home team when the same Roye took care of the equalizer fifteen minutes before time. The midfielder beautifully found the top right corner from a free kick. Just before that, Depay had been pulled over. Lyon had opportunities to take the game in the final phase, but could not prevent a penalty shootout. Garcia’s team turned out to be too strong: 4-5.