UEFA Champions League FT Report: Hapoel Tel Aviv v Olympique Lyon – Bastos stunner for Lyon
Lyon travelled to Israel for the first time ever in order to play a match against a team from that region. Hapoel, on the other hand, had managed to lose both the games that they played against opponents from
France in the past and were looking to put an end to that record tonight.
Prior to the game, Lyon had managed to win forty nine competitive games in the UEFA Champions League and were determined to get their fiftieth and first ever win on Israeli soil. Lyon's star centre back, Cris,
was scheduled to miss out on the action in the night match due to a ban he was serving after having picked up a red card in last season’s Champions League.
Hapoel were playing their second ever game in the Champions League, having made their debut on match day 1.
The match kicked off with Lyon showing their experience and ability from the very first minute. In the seventh minute of the match, Lyon had a little bit of luck via the home side. W. Badir mistimed a tackle
and as a result Lyon were awarded a penalty. The resulting spot kick was taken by Michel Bastos, who didn't think twice before tucking the penalty away with ease.
The opening goal was all that the French side needed to boost their confidence as there was a notable change in their game-play. The team was stringing together some beautiful passes and were making the home
side look like a bunch of amateur players for most parts of the night.
On the thirty fifth minute, Lyon and Bastos got their second goal of the night. The Brazilian received the ball around twenty yards out after a corner was not cleared properly by Hapoel and the player let loose
a thunderbolt with his left foot. The ball zipped across the air at blistering speed before finally crashing into the back of the net. The ball was perfectly placed into the top left corner of the post, leaving the stranded keeper, Vincent Enyeama, with no
chance.
The game quietened down a bit after that goal, with Lyon looking more than content with just keeping possession and creating the odd chance or two. However the game dramatically changed in the seventy seventh
minute. Hapoel were awarded a penalty with only ten minutes left on the clock. Howard Webb signalled that there was shirt pulling going on inside the Lyon box and pointed straight to the spot. Interestingly, the player to take the resulting spot kick for the
home side was their keeper, Enyeama, who rushed all the way from the other end of the pitch, and calmly stroked the ball into the back of the Lyon net.
As a result of the goal, the home side decided to go into over kill. They were now looking all the more threatening and were creating far more chances. At one point it looked like the home side might just salvage
something out of the game.
However, Hapoel had their hearts broken deep into stoppage time. Miralem Pjanic broke into the Hapoel box on the counter and parried in a rebound from the keeper to give Lyon the three points on the night.
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