For the 10th day of D1, OL received Montpellier, a poster that had cost a few points to Lyon and delay their coronation at the end of the season. This year, no points left on the road and a Lyon 2-1 win, in a match as expected, and where the start of the OL has made the difference in this meeting.

OL finish the year against the best teams of D1. Posters at the top of the table that follow each other, even if the match against Juvisy originally scheduled last weekend has been postponed to 1 February. Before moving on the lawn of PSG, OL received Montpellier in Décines.

Last season, the two games between the two teams ended in a draw. We remember in particular the 0-0 between the two teams in Grammont and that had long allowed Paris to stay in the race for the title despite a heavy defeat in the Rhone early in the season. Last May, facing a team from Lyon and already reassured title, Montpellier had come to draw 1-1 for the last match played at Gerland.

Montpellier without net
This season, Montpellier suffered a first disappointment on the PSG lawn, and was moving without a safety net on the lawn of OL. If Montpellier will receive the two leaders in the second half of the season, everyone knows that the points lost against Lyon and Paris are complicated to catch up even at home.

The beginning of the match is as often between the two teams quickly animated, with the OL that seeks to quickly take control of the ball and the game. We try to work on the sides, especially on the left with Amel Majri, aligned in position side but who quickly lurks around the opposing defense and defect Lindsey Thomas, obliged to go down very low to hinder the combinations Lyon. A first Lyon center on the left is captured by Laetitia Philippe.

Always in the first moments of the meeting, Montpellier tries to illustrate against. Party in the back of the defense, Jakobsson sees Bouhaddi attempt an adventurous tackle to take the ball to the Swedish attacker MHSC. Jakobsson continues her action but offside left, she can not hit the goal and center to Lindsey Thomas who can not really arm his shot and the ball is recovered by Sara Bouhaddi returned to his goals (3rd).

Two minutes later, OL took the lead over a free-kick by Camille Abily. Following a center Pauline Bremer, pushed back in the axis by the defense Herault, Eugenie Le Sommer controls the ball at the entrance to the surface and then finds itself unbalanced by Anouk Dekker. A foul at the edge of the area and could have given a penalty as a free kick. It is finally the second option that is chosen by the referee.

The Abily penalty
But at this distance, the exercise is equally accessible for Camille Abily who chained the goals on free-kicks when the ball is positioned near the surface. Facing the goal, at the limit of 16 meters, Camille Abily places a wrapped shot that ends his race on the right of the goal of Montpellier, just under the skylight but especially out of reach of Laetitia Philippe (5th).

An unstoppable opener followed a few minutes from another goal, this time signed Eugénie Le Sommer. The Lyon striker, whom Olivier Echouafni said she had perhaps one of the best head games in Europe, again showed perfect timing. On a magnificent center of Amel Majri, Le Sommer gets rid of the marking and places a head plunging to the second post on which Laetitia Philippe can do nothing (7th).

Everything is going too fast, and Montpellier seems suddenly overwhelmed by OL's offensive movements. However, Montpellier does not come out of the game completely. We find quite quickly the fundamentals, a ball of Toletti slipped in the meantime to Jakobsson on the right in the surface. His cross shot was finally rejected by Sarah Bouhaddi who had closed the angle (9th). After this first start, Montpellier seems resigned again to work defensively, find his organization and wait for an error or a weak time Lyon.

Dekker takes Fox short
A scenario that is finally realized at the end of the first period. It starts with an action by Lindsey Thomas on the right that manages to escape between Amel Majri and Griedge Mbock at the center line. She accelerates and manages to center despite the return of Griedge Mbock. His ball goes to the goal and requires Sarah Bouhaddi to a decisive intervention (40th).

Emboldened, the players of Montpellier are more pressing, multiplying efforts to recover the ball including the half of Lyon. Anouk Dekker anticipates a pass from Amel Majri to Wendie Renard and the Lyon captain puts the ball in the feet in the Dutch player. With the finish going, Dekker takes over Wendie Renard, who tries to make up for her loss of ball, and finally cheat on Sarah Bouhaddi on her left (42 ').

A goal that comes at the best time for Montpellier and sanction Lyon who may have dropped a tone late in the first period. Responsible for the goal, Wendie Renard made a decisive tackle a few minutes later in the box to prevent Sofia Jakobsson from equalizing before the break (45 + 1).

Montpellier could believe it
In the second half, we find the pattern of the second half of the first half. A team from Montpellier well in place and no longer leaves Lyon the freedom that allowed the players of Gérard Prêcheur to quickly take the advantage.

Few opportunities on both sides. Note a head Lindsey Thomas on a free kick Sandie Toletti, well captured by Sarah Bouhaddi (68th). A minute later, a bad revival of Laetitia Philippe could have turned into a double for Le Sommer but the Hérault goalkeeper made a good left foot parry that keeps Montpellier in the game (69th).

Montpellier remains in the game and could even snatch the draw at the end of the game. On a free kick by Sandie Toletti, the ball is deflected by a Montpellier player at the entrance of the 16 meters and Clarisse Le Bihan then mark within six meters. The goal is logically denied for offside, the deflection of the head having set off Le Bihan (82).

A thrill for OL and then this flash of Ada Hegerberg in the 88th minute that sends a powerful shot to about twenty meters from the goal and Hérault sees his attempt to hit the left post of a Laetitia Philippe beaten on this action.

A final victory for Lyonnaises 2-1 at the end of a match that overall proved to be complicated for OL. After a start of the match with fanfare, the defending champions did not manage to get away and remained within reach of a Montpellier team that was able to recover during the game Three points despite everything, and a match that had to be watched carefully on the side of the capital to a week of shock against PSG. Many reunions in perspective and a match that looks like a first final this season.

Photo: Maya Mans