The Asian Age

Five- star Lyon still in fray

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Paris, April 21: Captain Nabil Fekir scored a superb goal as Lyon stayed on course for a return to the Champions League by romping to a 5- 2 win at Dijon in Ligue 1 on Friday.

Memphis Depay, Houssem Aouar, Bertrand Traore and Maxwel Cornet were also on target for the visitors in Burgundy, as a rampant Lyon claimed a sixth consecutiv­e league victory.

Bruno Genesio’s side — who missed out on a Champions League place this season — are now just a point behind secondplac­ed Monaco, who visit Guingamp on Saturday.

Crucially, they are also three points ahead of fourth- placed Marseille, who entertain Lille in another Saturday game.

“The aim was to win and that’s what we did. This is never easy in Dijon,” said Genesio.

Only the top three sides qualify for the Champions League in Ligue 1, and OL looked to be out of the running after a poor run of form in February and into March.

However, they have come roaring back on a winning run that has included a dramatic away victory at Marseille and has seen them score 19 goals while taking 18 points from a possible 18.

This was the fifth away game this season in which they have scored five times, with Depay setting them on the way when he turned in a cross from fellow former Manchester United man Rafael early on.

The Dutchman has now scored 15 Ligue 1 goals this season, with six coming in his last five games.

A terrific Naim Sliti strike meant the scores were level at the interval, but Depay helped on another Rafael cross for Aouar to put Lyon ahead again five minutes after the break.

French internatio­nal Fekir, making his first start since returning from a knee injury, then dribbled into the penalty area before finishing neatly into the roof of the net at the end of a counteratt­ack to make it 3- 1 in the 53rd minute.

 ?? AFP ??
AFP

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