Lyon will take a narrow lead to Cyprus after a hard-fought 1-0 win over APOEL Nicosia in a one-sided first leg at the Stade Gerland.
Cypriot side still in the tie
Lyon will take a narrow lead to Cyprus after a hard-fought 1-0 win over APOEL Nicosia in a one-sided first leg at the Stade Gerland.
Alexandre Lacazette's deflected effort that looped over Dionisis Chiotis just before the hour mark proved to be the winner on the night.
But Remi Garde's Lyon side might feel this was an opportunity missed given their dominance of possession and a succession of missed chances throughout the game.
APOEL, the first Cypriot club to reach the last 16 of the Champions League, were content to keep things tight and limit their losses.
Indeed, the large contingent of visiting fans had to wait until the 88th minute before Gustavo Manduca had APOEL's first shot of the match.
Lyon had a decent penalty shout after two minutes when Ederson appeared to be eased out of the way by Nuno Morais, but Italian referee Paolo Tagliavento waved play on.
Lyon dominate
For all Lyon's possession they were struggling to create chances, and their first real opportunity came after 24 minutes when, following good work from Lisandro Lopez, the ball broke in the area to Anthony Reveillere whose shot was blocked.
Lisandro then saw his low shot held by Chiotis diving low to his right, before Lacazette cut in from the right well but hammered a good chance over the bar.
Five minutes before the break Lyon had their best effort of the half. Ederson's slide-rule pass was cut out by Ivan Trickovski but the ball broke to Lacazette, whose strike from the edge of the box was turned over by Chiotis.
Lisandro then fired over from a narrow angle.
Barely two minutes into the second period, Michel Bastos produced a lovely pass for Ederson, who rounded the keeper and slid the ball towards goal only for Paulo Jorge to slide in and clear at the very last moment.
Lyon finally took the lead after 58 minutes when Cris played the ball down the left channel for Lacazette, who cut inside before unleashing a shot which deflected off Jorge and looped over Chiotis.
With two minutes to play, APOEL finally had their first attempt of the match as Manduca, on as a late substitute, cut in from the right and fired at goal but Hugo Lloris was alert to the danger and turned the ball over.
