olympique lyonnais may have secured their place in the uefa champions league's last 16 but they are in no mood to relax against hapoel tel-aviv fc on matchday 6, says hugo lloris.
olympique lyonnais may have already secured their place in the last 16 of the uefa champions league but there is no chance of them playing their final group fixture against hapoel tel-aviv fc in second gear, according to hugo lloris. "you'll see a true champions league match," said the goalkeeper, and with good reason.
lyon are playing for first place in group b against a visiting israeli side who, though bottom of the pool, are still in contention for a uefa europa league berth. claude puel's team are a point behind section leaders fc schalke 04 and need to beat hapoel and hope the german club fail to win against third-placed sl benfica in lisbon to wrest first place.
"the stakes are high," said france no1 lloris. "even if we are behind schalke, we have to do our best to get first place, knowing that benfica have still not qualified for the europa league. we have the fortune to play our last game at home, so it wouldn't be a good idea to fail."
lloris, 23, is well are aware of the significance of finishing first and avoiding some of the tournament's big guns in the 17 december draw for the next round. "i've never finished first in champions league. i know that it could be an advantage, avoiding teams like real madrid and barcelona for instance." it is fitting he mentions the two spanish giants – two years ago, lyon lost to fc barcelona in the first knockout round, while they beat real madrid cf last year at the same stage.
top spot would also mean lyon being at home for the second leg in the last 16 and their form at the stade de gerland is a cause for optimism for lloris as he looks ahead to the immediate challenge against hapoel – they have won their two previous home games in group b without conceding a goal while hapoel have lost their two away matches.
yet hapoel did win away twice in the qualifying rounds and forward etey shechter said that, while their task was daunting, the desire was there. "we know that we'll have it tough against a great club. lyon will probably dominate the game, but with the right willpower, we can win," he said.
alexandre lacazette salvaged a draw for the hosts as eli gutman's men were denied a uefa europa league place.
a late goal from substitute alexandre lacazette salvaged a draw for olympique lyonnais against hapoel tel-aviv fc but was not enough to take the french club to the group b summit.
claude puel's charges had already sealed a uefa champions league knockout stage place for an eighth consecutive season yet began with hope of overtaking section leaders fc schalke 04. in the end, they were grateful for a share of the spoils after almost succumbing to a brilliant second-half performance from the visitors.
although lisandro broke the deadlock on 62 minutes, the hosts were behind seven minutes later as ben sahar and eran zahavi both scored. it looked as though zahavi's wonderful acrobatic effort would be enough to propel eli gutman's men into third spot, ahead of sl benfica, but lacazette's 88th-minute leveller brought the israeli side's european season to a close.
lyon started in positive fashion, lisandro's ferocious shot brushing the side netting before bafétimbi gomis nodded in jimmy briand's cross only for the effort to be ruled out for offside. with yoann gourcuff injured, miralem pjanić assumed creative duties and was involved in all lyon's best moves in the first half, testing vincent enyeama himself with a curling shot.
enyeama scored a penalty in the 3-1 home defeat by the french club and was proving a thorn in their side again. the nigerian goalkeeper made excellent fingertip saves to deny jean makoun and gomis, and when he was beaten by cris' header gil vermouth was perfectly placed to head off the line. makoun then struck the outside of the post following a defence-splitting back-heel from lisandro.
while the israeli champions rode their luck they also looked capable of scoring. indeed, hugo lloris had already made one excellent save from toto tamuz when he denied sahar after the substitute had inadvertently been sent clear by maxime gonalons on 39 minutes. lloris pulled off another fine stop to keep out vermouth early in the second period, although it was lyon who drew first blood. after michel bastos' shot was deflected, enyeama raced off his line to deny briand, only for the loose ball to fall to lisandro; he gratefully lashed home.
last season's semi-finalists might have thought the hard work was done but they were rocking seven minutes later as hapoel stormed back. zahavi sent sahar through seconds after the restart, the striker coolly steering his left-footed finish beyond lloris' reach. six minutes later zahavi silenced the home fans by dispatching salim toama's cross into the top corner with a magnificent overhead kick. enyeama's heroics continued as he denied anthony réveillère and lisandro, but he could not keep out lacazette's precise shot.
yardimci hakemler: kim thomas haglund (nor), frank andås (nor)
4. hakem: tom harald hagen (nor)
çzigi hakemleri: espen berntsen (nor), tommy skjerven (nor)
lyon: hugo lloris (gk), cris (c), pape diakhaté, jimmy briand, miralem pjanić (dk. 68 alexandre lacazette), lisandro, anthony réveillère, jean makoun, bafétimbi gomis (dk. 59 michel bastos), aly cissokho (dk. 78 jérémy pied), maxime gonalons
yedekler: rémy vercoutre (gk), dejan lovren, kim källström, jérémy toulalan
teknik direktör: claude puel (fra)
h. tel-aviv: vincent enyeama (gk), douglas da silva, dani bondarv, bevan fransman, etey shechter (dk. 25 ben sahar), gil vermouth (c), eran zahavi, shay abutbul (dk. 80 walid badier), gal shish, avihay yadin, toto tamuz (dk. 62 salim toama)
yedekler: galil ben-shanan (gk), yossi shivhon, victor mare, omri kende
teknik direktör: eli gutman (ısr)
goller: dk. 62 lisandro (1-0) dk. 63 ben sahar (1-1) dk. 69 eran zahavi (1-2) dk. 88 alexandre lacazette (2-2)
sari kartlar: dk. 8 gal shish, dk. 90+1 ben sahar (h. tel-aviv)
hapoelli oyuncu eran zahavy attığı muhteşem golle geceye damgasını vurdu. zahavy, sol kanattan gelen ortayı penaltı noktası üzerinden röveşatayla gole çevirdi.
