Nartey on target as Olympique Lyonnais edge past Anderlecht in Brussels

[p]The visitors started in confident fashion and came close to taking the lead after only two minutes when Mohamed Ouedraogo’s close-range header was superbly tipped over the bar by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/coosemans-colin/UD17SXrF/"]Colin Coosemans[/a].[/p][p][b]The hosts did not heed that early warning, though, and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/lyon/2akflumR/"]Lyon[/a] deservedly went in front six minutes later thanks to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/nartey-noah/ENIcNoqj/"]Noah Nartey[/a]’s drilled strike from 15 yards out. [/b][/p][p]After a very slow start, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/anderlecht/vslqAKNo/"]Anderlecht[/a]’s first effort of the contest arrived after 20 minutes, as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/maamar-ali/KQA9jXwP/"]Ali Maamar[/a] picked out [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/llansana-enric/G2YIUWTB/"]Enric Llansana[/a] in a promising position, but his effort was steered wide of the target.[/p][p]Les Gones quickly made their Belgian opponents pay for that squandered chance with a goal that doubled their advantage midway through the first half.[/p][embed guid="f214a780-a1f7-4391-9be9-20968b25d0a2" url="https://x.com/OL_English/status/2100308064171663577" social-type="twitter" /][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/nakamura-keito/ttEUhyfq/"]Keito Nakamura[/a] created enough space to have a shot from inside the box, and his strike took a huge deflection off the unfortunate Llansana before flying past Coosemans and into the back of the net.[/b][/p][p]Anderlecht’s biggest opportunity to halve the deficit before the interval fell to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cvetkovic-mihajlo/SErhvM9U/"]Mihajlo Cvetkovic[/a], but his shot was well blocked by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/descamps-remy/0IG1JXBr/"]Remy Descamps[/a] to keep his clean sheet intact.[/p][p]Paulo Fonseca’s side continued to impress after the restart and initially celebrated a third goal of the night through [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/morton-tyler/40d4JF8O/"]Tyler Morton[/a], but his simple close-range finish was ruled out for offside.[/p][image alt="Momentum" id="074caf23-89af-435c-800b-bc0415052ad7" credit-line="Flashscore" hidden-attrs="alt, credit" guid="2449d7fb-8fc1-4d95-adf2-e3cd853de8e3" original-width="3840" original-height="2160" /][p][b]Poor defending from the visitors then allowed Anderlecht to grab a lifeline just after the hour mark, as Maamar’s inch-perfect delivery from the right flank was met by a completely unmarked Cvetkovic to head home from eight yards out and give Vitor Bruno’s team a glimmer of hope.[/b][/p][p]With just over 10 minutes remaining, a determined Anderlecht threw everything at Lyon in their search for an equaliser, and Descamps came to the Ligue 1 side’s rescue with a full-stretch save to deny substitute [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bentayeb-tawfik/QqlDIsGM/"]Tawfik Bentayeb[/a] from netting a sensational goal.[/p][image alt="Key match stats" id="d1e5b381-04b3-4927-b0c9-570b10ddaed5" credit-line="Flashscore" hidden-attrs="alt, credit" guid="8091ae8a-7142-4e0f-9494-9347f57653d4" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p]Anderlecht continued to press hard right to the very end in a much-improved second-half performance, but the visitors held on to secure all three points. Following this win, Lyon are now unbeaten in four games in all competitions, with this a fourth victory from five meetings. [/p][p]Anderlecht, meanwhile, suffer just a second defeat from their last 16 European home games.[/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/nakamura-keito/ttEUhyfq/"]Keito Nakamura[/a] (Lyon)[/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/anderlecht-vslqAKNo/lyon-2akflumR/summary/stats/?mid=OlykXFnI"]Catch up on the key match stats with Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p][infobox id="c134a416-a81e-4aa8-9dc0-5a1a0f9322e0" /]