Lyon Caught With Two Stunning Strikes, Have to Regroup in Spain

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

In France, we expected, or at least I expected, Lyon to win this game by one or two goals. Little did I know that Real Sociedad would conjure two fantastic chances to score two of the most memorable goals in their history — Antoine Griezmann with an overhead scissor kick off of the Carlos Vela cross and Seferovic with a half volley from 25 yards out dropping in over the keeper … yeah, it was that kind of night for the French side.

Lyon struck the woodwork on one or two occasions and created nice chances that they somehow managed to miss. They were actually held scoreless on their home soil against a team that is not known for its defense even though they (Sociedad) finished fourth in the La Liga standings this past season.

The Spanish side missed chances as well as they could have easily found the back of the net two or four more times. They scored two magnificent, but fortunate, goals but missed some easy ones as well.

Now, Lyon has to regroup for next week’s second leg on foreign soil. They can get the job done if they focus more on defending to disallow wonder goals if you will and strike on the counter attack. They have the pieces needed to win … but tonight, they simply were outlasted by a hungry side that has not played in the group stages of the Champions League since the 2003-2004 season. It is about time they returned to a top tier competition to prove their worth.

Sociedad may feel they should make it so that this talk about Real Madrid and Barcelona being the “only” two teams that matter in Spain could be falsified. The team has talent and they know how to mesh together. In fact, on a good day, this team can beat those two giants and convincingly so.

Next week’s second leg will be intriguing no matter who wins or if it ends in a draw. This was the first taste of what is to come and it would be a lie to say the match was not entertaining.

Prediction: Sociedad 2-2 Lyon — All the goals will be well constructed but both sides will miss chances. Sociedad will score first so they will not focus as much defensively and Lyon’s urgency will cause them problems.