Lens hand Lyon first defeat of the season with 2-1 win in Ligue 1
Lens beat Lyon 2-1 on Friday to open the sixth round of Ligue 1, with Florian Thauvin setting up both goals. The hosts held on after Matthieu Udol was sent off late on.
Archive image · Photo: Liondartois / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Lyon suffered their first defeat of the Ligue 1 season on Friday, losing 2-1 at Lens in the opening match of the sixth round. Florian Sotoca put the hosts ahead in the 36th minute from a Florian Thauvin pass at the Stade Bollaert. Matthieu Udol doubled the lead with a header from a Thauvin free kick in the 76th minute.
The finish was tense. Udol was shown a red card in the 84th minute for a foul on Khalis Merah, who pulled one back for Lyon a minute later. The visitors pressed with an extra man, but chances for Ruben Kluivert and Felix Bacher came to nothing. Goalkeepers Robin Risser of Lens and Dominik Greif of Lyon both made a string of saves.
The win ended a four-match winless league run for Lens, their first victory since the opening weekend and the first home win under coach Yannick Cahuzac, appointed in mid-September. Lens moved up to seventh for now. Lyon remain second on 11 points behind Monaco but could be overtaken later in the weekend.