Four-goal Gomis: I'm not a hero
Reuters - Thursday 08 December 2011, 10:14
Bafetimbi Gomis scored four
in Olympique Lyon's stunning 7-1 Champions League win at Dinamo
Zagreb, yet the France striker praised the team's collective
performance as the seven-times French champions were still
shaking their heads in disbelief.
Gomis netted the quickest hat-trick in the competition's
history and added a fourth later, helping Lyon reach the
knockout phase for the ninth year in succession as they
leapfrogged Ajax Amsterdam into second place in Group D by
virtue of a better goal difference.
"I'm not a hero," Gomis who had not found the back of the
net since mid-October, told reporters.
"It's a collective performance. After they had [Jerko] Leko
sent off [midway through the first half] I had a lot of space, I
just had to apply myself."
Gomis also became only the seventh player to hit four in a
Champions League game, joining an elite group that includes
Lionel Messi and Marco van Basten.
Lyon's chances looked over when they went a goal behind.
They had needed a big win and for Ajax to lose at home to Real
Madrid to overturn a seven-goal deficit.
"We thought we had a chance, albeit a small one. We had
prepared well and last night we watched Olympique de Marseille's
comeback [a 3-2 win at Borussia Dortmund] on TV," he was quoted
as saying by UEFA.com.
The achievement, however, had not yet sunk in after the
game. "It is surreal, extraordinary," coach Remi Garde told
reporters.
"It is perhaps one of the Lyon games that gave me the most
emotion," said club president Jean-Michel Aulas, who praised
Garde for keeping the team focused before a game that had looked
something of a lost cause.
"I think of Remi Garde, who managed to mobilise the team.
They managed to stay focused while everyone predicted we would
be knocked out," he said.
France forward Jimmy Briand, who scored one and created two,
echoed his president's point of view.
"Before the game we were the only ones who actually believed
we could do it. I mean the coach, the players, the president and
the backroom team," he said.
"We believed it could happen, we came here, and it did
happen. At half-time we saw that it was 2-0 to Madrid in
Amsterdam and we said we have to give this everything."