Alexandre Lacazette notched a brace that included his 200th Lyon goal, as Les Gones closed out 2024/25 with a 2-0 victory over Angers. And thanks to a late twist at Strasbourg, they snuck into sixth place at the death, and will play in the UEFA Conference League next season.
Looking to sneak into the European spots, Lyon hosted the already-safe Angers after suffering a damaging defeat at Monaco.
With more on the line for a Lyon side that started the night in seventh place, they unsurprisingly began on top, and somehow didn’t take the lead when Lacazette teed up Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who could only fire straight at Melvin Zinga rather than place it either side of the visiting custodian.
Lacazette should then have added to his 13 league goals this season when he failed to turn in Ryan Cherki’s excellent cross to the back post.
The only positives Angers could take from the first half was that they hadn’t conceded against a team to which they had lost the last four games, but they offered very little going forward as the teams went in at the break.
The second half started as the first ended, with the hosts looking by far the more likely side to take the lead.
Lacazette tested Zinga twice early on in the second half, and it took a rash Zinga challenge on Thiago Almada in the area for Lyon to take the lead, allowing Lacazette to score his 200th goal for Lyon from the spot, cooly sending Zinga the wrong way to make it 1-0.
Knowing that goal difference could come into play with securing a European spot, Lyon kept pushing to extend their lead, and they nearly did just that shortly after when Almada struck the post with a superb effort from outside the area.
With safety already secured, Angers looked happy to give up a lot of the ball and occasionally venture forward on the counter-attack, their best chance falling to Esteban Lepaul who saw his effort blocked.
Lyon then wrapped up the win 20 minutes from time when Lacazette completed his brace with one of the easiest finishes of his career - a simple tap-in from a Cherki cross.
And it nearly got even worse for the travelling side when Maitland-Niles crashed an effort against the post moments later after getting on the end of Malick Fofana’s low cross.
In the closing minutes, the Lyon fans’ attention was more on events at Lille and Strasbourg. And with a late winner for Lille over Reims, it was all about whether or not Le Havre could win against Strasbourg.
Just when all hope seemed lost, Le Havre won a late penalty at the Stade de la Meinau. That was converted by Abdoulaye Toure, putting Lyon sixth just as they were getting changed, no doubt sparking celebrations in the dressing room.