Olympique Lyonnais are still in with a chance of a European place after an emphatic 3-0 win at second-placed Olympique de Marseille on Sunday. Three second-half goals decided a match which wasn’t short on controversy. Here’s what some of the men involved had to say after the game in week 35’s Ligue 1 Sunday sounds.
Marseille coach Jorge Sampaoli:
“We were well on top when the refereeing mistakes took place. It’s clear that these key moments decided the outcome of the game. They totally decided it. Unfortunately, we were the ones on the receiving end but there’s nothing we can do to change that. It bothers me because we were better in the first half up until Lyon’s first goal, which unsettled us a bit. Unfortunately, the team was pushing, trying to force the issue and then suffered this kind of injustice, which were unable to deal with.”
Lyon manager Peter Bosz:
“I think the first goal changed everything. After that, Marseille played higher up the pitch and were more open. I think we played really well on the counterattack. We were solid in defence, in the first half too. The first half won’t have been very entertaining for the fans. We lost the ball too easily too often, we didn’t counterattack well at all and Marseille didn’t really play forward much so it was probably a match to forget about quickly. But I think we did really well in the second half.”
Watch Sampaoli and Bosz’s press conferences here.
OM goalkeeper Paul Lopez:
OL the better side
“It’s difficult (to explain). I think they won because they played better than us. It’s hard, I don’t know what to say. I know today’s match was really important for the fans, I’m sorry for them. Especially because the derby against Lyon is important for them. But today they were better than us.”
A tired squad?
“No, I don’t think we’re tired. I think that especially in Rotterdam and today, we played well for long spells and that makes it tough. Lyon have a lot of good players and if they all play well it’s difficult to win the game.”
A foul in the run-up to the opening goal?
“I went for the ball with Dembélé and he hit me. It (whether it’s a foul) is up to VAR and the referee, I can’t comment.”
OL defender Castello Lukeba, who opened the scoring:
“We really wanted to win this game, especially as it’s an Olympico and it keeps us in with a chance of qualifying for Europe.”
“It’s my second goal, we work on that a lot in training. I try to offer something in attack and today it paid off.”
“That’s a second win in a row, we’ll try to keep it going next week.”