What happened after the meeting when he approached Anthony Lopez, constant ritual of the home kid, supporter stand, that place he frequented when he was younger as an OL fan? Were certain words, certain situations, certain looks that pissed him off when he simply came to thank them for their support? Anyway, we saw a temple guard next to him, forbidden by Homeland Security to avoid physical confrontation with dozens of people. But it was not easy to hold back an angry man… Lopez returned to the corner to fight him but was caught again by his bodyguards before leaving the crowd a few minutes later.
He joined the locker room, conspicuously beside him, a yellow shirt tight to his body, and surprised gestures, looking elsewhere. Terribly disappointed. Perhaps in this reaction came all the frustration of an evening with an unreal outcome where he deserves to be the hero. But what can he do against a goal scored collectively by three of his teammates after extra time and sealed by Malu Gusto? For a long time, this season, OL hasn’t been able to get three assists, and it wasn’t the best time to get there…
“You were amazing.”
Laurent Blanc, OL coach
For his 450th OL jersey, the Portuguese remained in his goal, lying prostrate, aware that his side had just lost an important game in their quest to reach Europe. Yesterday, however, he shone for the long haul, saving his family before succumbing to that last mistake from his teammates. Laurent Blanc confirmed his man’s performance at the end of the match: “Antho was amazing. But the other Lopez wasn’t bad either. The goalkeepers had a good game because there were a lot of chances in the penalty area. »
Two real exploits
Could he have come out earlier on Alexis Sanchez in the opener? Perhaps, but Sinaly Diomandé’s loss of the ball, his rather low position at the moment forced him to wait for the duel against Alexis Sanchez. He hesitated and preferred, rather than be late, easy to eliminate, to stay afloat. His reaction to Chile’s strike certainly cemented his initial thought, but neither defender could follow through with the measure, which helped him stop Under (1-0, 45).
After that, Lopez allowed OL to stay within reach, believing in a beautiful destiny. We can mention his mastery of his space, his willingness to evacuate quickly towards his partners and his successive stops of course. We think in particular of two real exploits. The first is less than after the hour mark (66). Turk followed with a low right foot on a pass from Klaus but López bowled in perfectly. And he left himself alive.
Two minutes later, OL equalized through their captain Alexandre Lacazette. Then Lopez still had to leave his people alive with an amazing save (76th place). In his hundreds of times against Marseille, he has knocked a shot from Klaus with his fingertips onto the crossbar! What the southerners did not succeed in, it was his friends from Lyon who stuck with him. But the Portuguese cannot blame himself, yesterday, as throughout the season. Since Rémy Vercoutre’s return to the club as goalkeeping coach, it seems he has come back to life. But that shouldn’t be enough to cheer him up this morning…
