Lyon vs Toulouse. French Ligue 1.
Municipal De Gerland.
Sunday 14 April 2013 19:16, UK
Lyon returned to third in Ligue 1 with a hard-fought 3-1 victory over Toulouse at the Stade de Gerland.
Lyon returned to third in Ligue 1 with a hard-fought 3-1 victory over Toulouse at the Stade de Gerland. With Marseille still to play, Les Gones closed the gap to one point on the second-placed club thanks to goals from Clement Grenier, Bakary Kone and Bafetimbi Gomis. Toulouse's Wissam Ben Yedder levelled the score midway through the first half but defeat for the Haute-Garonne club all but ended any slim remaining chance of European qualification. Looking to end a run of three straight defeats, Lyon came flying out of the blocks and took an eighth minute lead with their first real attack. Alexandre Lacazette broke free down the left before firing across the face of the goal for Grenier to tap in at the far post. The hosts failed to capitalise on an early lead though and Toulouse came back into the game. Franck Tabanou fired a dangerous direct free-kick just wide before the visitors dragged themselves level shortly before the half hour mark. Daniel Braaten did superbly down the left before pulling the ball back for Ben Yedder to unconvincingly poke the ball home from close range. Tabanou went close to giving the visitors the lead but he headed a deep Braaten cross over Remy Vercoutre's bar as Lyon's recent frailties came back to haunt them. The hosts appeared thankful of the break and found themselves back in front four minutes after the restart. Toulouse failed to clear from a corner and Grenier swung a cross in for Kone to head beyond Olivier Blondel. Tabanou missed a good chance to draw his team level half way into the second period which proved costly as Lyon improved their advantage. Gueida Fofana charged into the area before picking out Gomis to slot the ball beyond Blondel from 10 yards. Toulouse looked for a reply but their inefficiency in front of goal was proving costly. Braaten's header failed to test Vercoutre after Pavel Ninkov had picked him out and despite some late Toulouse pressure Lyon held out.
