On Wednesday, September 14 at 21:45 in Lyon at the stadium “Parc Olympique Lyon”, in the opening round of the group stage of the Champions League Lyon will play against Dinamo Zagreb.
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Lacking five regular starters, including striker Alexandre Lacazette, Lyon dominated the Group H match with a fine display of one-touch football.
Corentin Tolisso’s first-half opener was followed by goals from Jordan Ferri and Gnarly Cornet after the break to end a two-game losing run that had raised some questions about Genesio’s future. His astute flick from Rafael’s cross was saved by ‘keeper Adrian Semper.
Dinamo twice hit the bar after the home side took their feet off the gas pedal, with El-Arbi Hilal Soudani missing the target from point-blank range before substitute Mario Situm rattled the woodwork with a fierce shot in the 87th minute.
It can not be overlooked, however, that Lyon lost all three of their home Champions League games in the process of exiting the competition at the group-stage last season and they come into this fixture off the back of consecutive Ligue 1 defeats against Dijon and Bordeaux.
Dinamo should have been further behind soon after, but Maxime Gonalons – unmarked from Cornet’s inswinging corner – could only direct his header over.
The 19-year-old Cornet then slipped a flawless ball to Ferri that the midfielder chipped over Semper to make it 2-0 in the 49th.
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And eight minutes later, Cornet raced onto a measured Tolisso pass to prod home Lyon’s third. Lyon was always the better team on the pitch, and luckily for Dinamo, the French vice-champions eased their pressure in the last quarter of the game.
