Lyon held at home by Hapoel
442 Staff - Tuesday 07 December 2010, 23:22
LYON - Olympique Lyon grabbed a
late equaliser to earn a 2-2 draw at home to Hapoel Tel Aviv in
their final Champions League Group B game on Tuesday.
Substitute Alexandre Lacazette saved Lyon, who had already
qualified for the knockout stage, denying Hapoel a Europa League
spot in a lively game at the Gerland stadium.
Lyon took the lead just past the hour through Lisandro Lopez
but the visitors were level a minute later thanks to Ben Sahar
and went ahead through Eran Zahavi's superb bicycle-kick.
Lacazette's goal left the French side on 10 points in second
place behind Schalke 04, with 13 after their 2-1 win at Benfica
who came third with six points ahead of Hapoel on five.
Benfica qualify for the last 32 of the Europa League.
Lyon started well but had a goal disallowed when Bafetimbi
Gomis was flagged offside as he headed home in the 13th minute.
Hapoel also looked dangerous, especially on the break, and
repeatedly threatened Hugo Lloris's goal as the Lyon defence
struggled to keep the opposing strikers at bay.
Etay Shechter and Douglas da Silva found themselves unmarked
in front of goal but neither managed to connect with Gil
Vermouth's cross.
POOR DEFENDING
Toto Tamuz and substitute Sahar then combined well in the
area, making the most of some poor defending by Cris and Papa
Diakhate, only for Lloris to pull off a fine save.
Hapoel goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama was also made to work hard
in a scrappy but entertaining contest.
The Nigerian produced a brilliant save to deny Miralem
Pjanic in the 28th and two minutes later parried Gomis's
long-range attempt.
He was beaten by a Cris header from Pjanic's corner but Gil
Vermouth cleared the ball off the line.
Lyon were rewarded in the 62nd minute when Lisandro slotted
home after Enyeama failed to properly clear Jimmy Briand's shot.
The visitors were quick to respond.
Sahar, who had come on for the injured Shechter in the first
half, collected a defence-splitting pass from Shay Abutbul and
fired past Lloris to equalise.
Six minutes later, Zahavi made it 2-1 to the visitors when
he was left alone in the area by the sleeping Lyon centre backs
and beat Lloris with a brilliant overhead-kick.
Lyon piled the pressure on and Enyeama made a couple of
stunning saves to deny Lisandro but there was nothing he could
do to block Lacazette's powerful strike from Lisandro's cross.