Lyon boost Champions League hopes with Saint-Etienne romp

Lyon maintained their winning momentum that they got in the mid-week Champions League clash against Juventus with an emphatic 2-0 victory against Saint-Etienne in the French derby on Sunday.

Moussa Dembele smashed a brace to steer his team to a facile win over their arch-rivals. With the victory, they moved to the fifth spot in the league, which boosted their Champions hopes for the next season.

An unmarked Dembele, who played as a striker at Celtic, converted a Martin Terrier free-kick pass with his shoulder to break the deadlock just before the half-hour mark. He was against on the target as he netted a last-gasp penalty for his 16th league goal of the season to seal a win for and increased the pressure on Saint-Etienne coach Claude Puel.

It was a third consecutive victory in 10 days for Lyon, who have been enduring a disappointing season in Ligue 1 and are still seven points away from Rennes in third place, the last Champions League qualifying berth in France.

Rudi Garcia’s side had outfought Juventus to claim a 1-0 win against all expectation in midweek in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.

They are due to head to Italy later this month for the return leg, where they will hope to advance from a knockout tie in that competition for the first time in a decade.

Meanwhile, they now go into a French Cup semi-final at home to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday further boosted by this result, after claiming a deserved victory against their struggling opponents.

“It is good what we are doing at the moment. We are playing good football, we are solid too, and that is three games now without conceding a goal,” Garcia told Canal Plus.

“We are playing games every three days but the fatigue goes away quicker when you’re winning. Beating Juve gave the players a big confidence boost, for sure.”

 Lyon had two further goals disallowed in the second half at the Groupama Stadium, with Lucas Tousart -- who scored against Juventus -- having one effort ruled out in the 64th minute for handball.

Then substitute Karl Toko-Ekambi’s strike from the edge of the area was disallowed because Dembele was standing in an offside position, blocking the goalkeeper’s view.

Lyon needed goalkeeper Anthony Lopes to save well from a Denis Bouanga free-kick and Brazilian defender Fernando Marcal to make one vital late clearance before Dembele sealed the points in stoppage time.

Timothee Kolodziejczak stopped a net-bound Toko-Ekambi shot with his arm in the box, and Dembele took the resulting penalty, scoring despite goalkeeper Jessy Moulin getting a touch. Saint-Etienne won their last meeting with Lyon in October in what was ex-Leicester City boss Puel’s first match in charge of the former European Cup finalists.

Agence France-Presse