Lyon shattered by Brugge

Club Brugge KV dealt Olympique Lyonnais a hammer blow in the Jan Breydelstadion in their UEFA Cup third round, first-leg tie with a three-goal second-half salvo to beat their French visitors 4-1.

Glimmer of hope
Lyon’s late consolation, through Pegguy Luyindula, gives them a glimmer of hope for the home return leg, but it will require an impressive performance to see them avoid a second European exit within a month.

Brugge more eager
Brugge looked the more eager side from the start and their alacrity was rewarded as early as the fifth minute. Gert Verheyen latched on to a poor clearance from Edmilson and fired the ball back across the face of goal. Gaëtan Englebert was on hand to push the ball into an empty net and open the scoring.

Lyon off the pace
Lyon did not seem to have an answer to the Belgian side’s crisp passing game and the French side were unable to get the ball on the ground and put together a meaningful phase of possession. In truth, Lyon were fortunate to be only a goal down at half-time.

Brugge go two up
This was borne out by Brugge’s second goal of the night just ten minutes into the second half. Following a Lyon free-kick on the edge of the home penalty area, Peter van der Heyden travelled upfield, and fed the ball out to Josep Šimic. Šimic's shot was well saved by Grégory Coupet in the Lyon goal, but as the ball ballooned up off the unfortunate keeper, Van Der Heyden was following up his original pass and flicked the ball into the unguarded net.

Fates favour home side
It all started to look like the fates were favouring Brugge in the 76th minute, when substitute Andrés Mendoza added his name to the scoresheet. It is doubtful whether he will score a simpler goal in European competition. Brugge were moving the play across the face of the Lyon goal from left to right. Verheyen tried to slip in Tjorven de Brul on the right, but Florent Laville intercepted the pass, sending it back across to the left. Coupet, who was covering the right-hand side of the goal could do nothing as the ball broke to Mendoza, who simply had to tap the ball into another empty net.

Lyon consolation
To their credit the visitors kept playing, mindful that a single goal could make all the difference when the two teams meet for the return leg on 6 December. And they were rewarded in the 83rd minute. A mix-up in the Brugge defence led to Philippe Clement failing to deal with Anderson's through-ball. This allowed Luyindula the opportunity to push the ball into Dejan Nemec's net.

Brugge hit back
Still Brugge battled back, besieging the Lyon goal for the last seven minutes. There were a number of lucky escapes before Brugge again hit the back of the net, this time from an Englebert free-kick. De Brul was first to react to his excellent delivery and rose tall to head the ball firmly into the net and give his side an eye-catching advantage for the second leg.

Sollied happy with result
Brugge coach Trond Sollied said after the game: "I am very happy about the result. Our first goal liberated us and I’m sure that Lyon were surprised to play such an offensive team. Now the only thing is I hope that the goal against us will not be too important for the game in France.”

Away goal hope
Lyon coach Jacques Santini was less happy with his side: “I cannot be happy about the game of my team. Brugge dominated the game from the first to the 90th minute and we didn’t show anything.” But he also felt that the away goal could prove vital, saying: “The goal that we scored has totally changed the face of the tie as we didn’t have a chance of going through at 3-0.”