Lyonnais 3 - 0 Caen - Lyon close in on Marseille

Posted Saturday, December 13, 2014 by PA

Lyon moved to within two points of Ligue 1 leaders Marseille with a 3-0 victory over Caen at Stade de Gerland on Friday.

Alexandre Lacazette gave Lyon the lead from the penalty spot in the seventh minute, before doubling their advantage in the 58th minute.

Yassine Benzia added a third four minutes later to seal a routine victory for Hubert Fournier's side, who have now won seven of their last 10 Ligue 1 matches, losing only once.

Lyon started brightly and Nabil Fekir forced Caen goalkeeper Remy Vercoutre into a smart save as early as the third minute with a stinging effort from just outside the penalty area.

Their early endeavour was rewarded soon after when Fekir was felled in the penalty area by centre-back Jean-Jacques Pierre, and Lacazette converted the subsequent spot kick even though Vercoutre guessed the right way.

Vercoutre was in inspired form playing against his former side and he kept Caen in the match with another fine save, this time to deny Lacazette who had executed a sweetly struck volley.

Mathieu Duhamel had Caen's first and only chance of the half in the 21st minute, but he could only fire his left-foot volley over the bar.

Maxime Gonalons' header from a probing Steed Malbranque corner should have put Lyon 2-0 in front shortly after the half-hour mark, but Vercoutre made another fantastic save before Lacazette directed his follow-up volley well over the crossbar.

Lyon continued their dominance after the half-time interval and were further in front in the 58th minute when Lacazette volleyed home at the far post after being set up by Samuel Umtiti's header.

And it was 3-0 four minutes later when Benzia pounced on Fekir's pass in the penalty area before coolly slotting past Vercoutre to put gloss on an already convincing victory.

The margin could have been that much greater had Fekir not missed a 75th-minute penalty and Rachid Ghezzal had found the target rather than a post with his 78th-minute free-kick, but there was no denying Lyon all three points to follow up their last-gasp win at Evian last Sunday.