Anderlecht 1-3 Olympique Lyon (2-8 agg.): Lopez The Hero

French outfit Olympique Lyon have qualified for the group phase of the Champions League after beating Belgian side Anderlecht 8-2 on aggregate.

The guests dominated the match from the beginning and grabbed a deserved lead halfway through the first half. Anderlecht did their utmost to draw things level, but they quite simply lacked the class to equalise.

The first chance of the match was for Anderlecht after only two minutes of play. However, Tom de Sutter failed to get on the end of an intelligent through ball and the chance went begging.

Argentinean hitman Lisandro Lopez tried his luck with a powerful shot after ten minutes. The attacker controlled the ball well after a nice cross from the wing, but his shot went high and wide of the Belgian goal.

Attacking midfielder Michel Bastos stepped up to take a free kick in the 15th minute, but the former Lille star failed to get his shot round the wall. Minutes later though, Bastos almost opened the scoring with a shot in the far corner that went only inches wide.

Jean Il Makoun came close to breaking the deadlock with a good header after a corner kick. Nevertheless, the Cameroonian midfielder's attempt didn't find the target from just yards out.

Les Gones got their deserved lead after 26 minutes. Anderlecht defender Ondrej Mazuch, who replaced the suspended Jelle ten Damme at the back, slid the ball across the face of goal and Lisandro Lopez thankfully snapped up the pass before chipping it over the Belgian goalie.

Lisandro Lopez doubled the French side's lead only four minutes later after a great run down the wing from right-back Anthony Reveillere. The defender cut the ball back for Lisandro and the prolific hitman found the net at the near post after going by two defenders.

Anderlecht almost pegged one back with ten more minutes to go before the break. Midfielder Guillaume Gillet unleashed a good header from inside the area, but his attempt went over the crossbar.   

Once again Lisandro Lopez made things even worse for Anderlecht in the dying minutes of the first half. The Belgians lost possession in their own half and Lyon combined well before eventually reaching Lisandro, who fired the ball into the top corner from the edge of the box.

Anderlecht pegged one back only five minutes after the interval. The referee had no choice but to award the Belgians a spot kick after Cris fouled substitute Matias Suarez inside the box and the Argentinean youngster had no trouble finding the net from twelve yards.

 

Michel Bastos kept on causing his defender all kinds of trouble and the Brazilian almost added his name to the scoresheet in the 54th minute. The winger cut inside before unleashing a powerful left footed shot, which was only narrowly saved by Davy Schollen.

 

Thomas Chatelle tried to set up Suarez with a nice through pass halfway in the second half, but the latter was ruled offside. The French defenders were struggling to keep the forward at bay though since his introduction at half-time.

 

Anderlecht were almost back in the game 15 minutes before the final whistle. Midfielder Lucas Biglia set up former Chelsea youngster Mbark Boussoufa with a great pass, but the latter was denied by Lloris, who deflected the ball wide for a corner.

 

Gifter youngster Ishak Belfodil set up Bastos on the edge of the area only minutes later. The versatile Brazilian saw the Anderlecht goalie stop his shot though and had to settle for a corner kick.