Lyon 5 : 1 Montpellier - Lyon take advantage of home help

Posted Monday, October 20, 2014 by PA

Lyon made full use of their unexpected home advantage as they routed Montpellier 5-1 to move up to fourth place in Ligue 1.

Yoann Gourcuff scored twice, either side of Nabil Fekir's strike, while late goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Steed Malbranque turned it into a thrashing.

Siaka Tiene had scored for Montpellier early in the second half, but his team were already three down at the time.

The match had been scheduled to be played in Montpellier, but was switched to Lyon last week after severe flooding in the south of France, with the reverse fixture next March moved the other way.

Gourcuff and Fekir had already gone close for Lyon before Gourcuff opened the scoring in the 35th minute, capitalising on a defensive mistake to fire past the wrong-footed Geoffrey Jourdren.

Two minutes later it was 2-0 as Lacazette crossed and Fekir stretched to turn the ball in.

The second half was barely under way when Gourcuff's crisp strike beat Jourdren to make it 3-0 - but the visitors replied quickly to breathe some life back into the contest.

Tiene's goal will prove little consolation to Montpellier in the final analysis, but it was a fine free-kick all the same as he curled it into the net from just outside the area.

However, the strike did little to change the dynamics of the match as Lyon continued to dominate, with Jourdren making a good save to deny Clinton N'Jie from close range in the 77th minute.

With nine minutes to go, Lacazette made certain of the points as he linked up with N'Jie again before slotting the ball home with a right-footed shot.

Malbranque capped the evening by combining with Lacazette before coolly firing beyond Jourdren.

The win moves Lyon on to 17 points, one behind Paris St Germain in second. Montpellier are only three points back, but all the way down in 11th courtesy of the congestion in the upper reaches of Ligue 1.