Lyon come back to beat struggling Strasbourg to keep European hopes alive
It was far from plain sailing for the visitors though, with a Strasbourg side battling to maintain their Ligue 1 status, starting brightly.
Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s chipped shot hit the roof of the net after Jean-Eudes Aholou's effort was cleared into his path.
But it looked like Blanc’s side had taken the lead when Bradley Barcola brilliantly cut inside the box and saw his sensational finish clipped in off the underside of the bar. However, the hosts’ blushes were spared by the VAR, which ruled out the strike for offside.
Those blushes turned into brimming smiles thanks to Morgan Sanson. He scored his first goal since completing a January loan move from Aston Villa with a clinical close-range finish, after Bellegarde brought the ball down into his path from Habib Diallo’s headed flick-on.
Parity was restored though through Castello Lukeba, who reacted quickest to the loose ball after Matz Sels parried Corentin Tolisso's initial header into the defender’s path from Maxence Caqueret’s corner.
Blanc’s side then completely turned the match on its head just four minutes later with a fine move resulting in Henrique’s pass to Caqueret, who swept home a brilliant first-time strike to put Lyon ahead at the break.
Tolisso should have extended the visitors’ lead after the restart when Alexandre Lacazette pulled the ball back to him but blazed his shot over the bar with only Selz left to beat.
Strasbourg would come to rue a golden missed opportunity when Frederic Guilbert's diving header went wide from Eduard Sobol's superb ball into the box.
It was end-to-end action aplenty, and Lacazette was mightily unfortunate not to extend Lyon’s lead from a Caqueret’s corner after rattling the post It counted for nothing in the end but Lyon were reduced to 10 men when Lukeba was shown a second yellow card following an altercation with Guilbert.
Frederic Antonetti’s side showed plenty of endeavour in the closing stages in their search for an equaliser but were narrowly beaten and missed out on the chance to claim three consecutive league victories for the first time since January 2022.
They remain 15th and are only out of the bottom four on goal difference, while Lyon cut the gap to fifth-place Lille to three points ahead of their match against Ajaccio on Saturday.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Maxence Caqueret (Lyon)