Puel hails Lyon courage

Coach pleased to secure progress

Last updated: 4th November 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Puel hails Lyon courage

Puel: Into the last 16

Related links

Teams

Also see

Lyon boss Claude Puel was understandably delighted to have stolen a point off Liverpool on Wednesday.

The Ligue 1 giants appeared to be heading towards their first UEFA Champions League defeat of the season when Ryan Babel hammered home for the Reds on 83 minutes.

That effort looked set to keep Liverpool's ambition of reaching the knockout stages alive, while delaying Lyon's attempts to reach the last 16.

However, there was to be dramatic late drama at Stade Gerland as Lisandro Lopez hauled the tie level with a last-gasp equaliser.

A point was enough to see Lyon book their safe passage out of Group E, while leaving Liverpool hoping for a miracle.

Puel admitted afterwards that his side have made a habit out of making life difficult for themselves, but he was pleased to have taken something from an entertaining contest.

"We have mastered the art of writing particular screenplays throughout the season," said the former Monaco and Lille coach.

"We were very courageous until the end in order to equalise and to qualify this evening."