Go Ahead Eagles fall just short in 2-1 defeat to Lyon in the UEFA Europa League
Go Ahead Eagles lost narrowly to French side Olympique Lyonnais in the UEFA Europa League. The game finished 2-1 to Lyon in the Groupama Stadium, with all three goals coming in the first 12 minutes.
Go Ahead gave it their all against a team that is currently top of the UEFA Europa League, but came up just short. They are still just one point behind a top-24 spot, which would result in a playoff place. They face OGC Nice, who have lost all six of their games thus far, and Portuguese side Braga in their final two games.
As stated before, it was a wild start to the game. Lyon broke the deadlock in the third minute. A pass deflected back to Tyler Morton, who played it across the box to Afonso Moreira; his finish was simple to make it 1-0.
The team from Deventer struck back two minutes later. Lyon keeper Remy Descamps played a risky pass to Corentin Tolisso, who lost the ball due to some good defensive work by Melle Meulensteen, and this gave Milan Smit the chance to get his third goal in the Europa League, which he took.
Although it seemed implausible at the time, the final goal of the game came three minutes later. A shot from center back Clinton Mata was spilled by Go Ahead keeper Jari de Busser to Pavel Sulc, whose finish was far from great, but it still went in via De Busser.
Lyon hit the woodwork twice in the remaining minutes. First, a cross to the far post found former Ajax defender Nicolas Tagliafico; his effort was saved by De Busser before Martin Satriano hit the post with the rebound.
Go Ahead started to pile players forward in the final stages in search of an equalizer, which led to some counterattack opportunities for Lyon. Tolisso hit the crossbar in the 89th minute when he cut inside and shot, before a goalline clearance from Joris Kramer stopped Moussa Niakhaté from getting on the scoresheet.
