Fofana the stoppage-time hero as Lyon rescue point at high-flying Lille
There was very little to separate this pair of high-flyers in the table prior to tonight, but in the opening stages, there was a huge gulf on the pitch as Lille dominated.
Only the woodwork denied them taking the lead when Thomas Meunier crashed Gabriel Gudmundsson’s effort off the crossbar, but that only proved a temporary reprieve for Lyon.
A matter of minutes later, a catastrophic backpass from Ainsley Maitland-Niles was pounced upon by Jonathan David, who rounded Lucas Perri and rolled the ball into an empty net.
Pressure on the Lyon goal was relentless at times, and they were lucky not to fall two behind shortly after the half-hour mark when Angel Gomes’ free-kick crashed back off the post.
The start to the second half was certainly full of action, and it was Lille again in the ascendancy, coming within inches of doubling their advantage when Meunier flashed an effort wide of the target.
They were almost left to rue that miss soon after when Rayan Cherki jinked his way into the area, but incredibly Alexandre Lacazette fired his cut-back over from all of three yards.
If that was close, Maitland-Niles’ effort just before the hour mark was even closer, as in an attempt to atone for his earlier error, the former Arsenal man hammered an effort a whisker wide of the target.
Having rattled the woodwork themselves twice in the first half, it was Lyon’s turn to do so 20 minutes from time when Cherki again bamboozled the Lille defence, but his thunderous strike bounced away to safety off the crossbar.
Lyon’s pressure eventually told, or so they thought, as Maitland-Niles powered an effort high into the roof of the net, but Moussa Niakhate was alleged to be obstructing Lucas Chevalier, and the goal was ruled out.
Seeing out the game wasn’t straightforward for Lille, who came under immense pressure in the closing stages, with Maitland-Niles again coming close when his left-footed effort curled inches wide of the post.
At that point, he probably thought it wasn’t his or Lyon’s night, but Maitland-Niles did produce a moment of magic that bore fruit when his stoppage-time cross was steered home by Malick Fofana to snatch Lyon a point which stretched their unbeaten away run to four matches.
A point apiece sees Lille climb to third while Lyon rise to fifth in the Ligue 1 table, at least for the time being.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Benjamin Andre (LOSC Lille)
