Nartey on target as Olympique Lyonnais edge past Anderlecht in Brussels

The visitors started in confident fashion and came close to taking the lead after only two minutes when Mohamed Ouedraogo’s close-range header was superbly tipped over the bar by Colin Coosemans.

The hosts did not heed that early warning, though, and Lyon deservedly went in front six minutes later thanks to Noah Nartey’s drilled strike from 15 yards out.

After a very slow start, Anderlecht’s first effort of the contest arrived after 20 minutes, as Ali Maamar picked out Enric Llansana in a promising position, but his effort was steered wide of the target.

Les Gones quickly made their Belgian opponents pay for that squandered chance with a goal that doubled their advantage midway through the first half.

Keito Nakamura created enough space to have a shot from inside the box, and his strike took a huge deflection off the unfortunate Llansana before flying past Coosemans and into the back of the net.

Anderlecht’s biggest opportunity to halve the deficit before the interval fell to Mihajlo Cvetkovic, but his shot was well blocked by Remy Descamps to keep his clean sheet intact.

Paulo Fonseca’s side continued to impress after the restart and initially celebrated a third goal of the night through Tyler Morton, but his simple close-range finish was ruled out for offside.

Poor defending from the visitors then allowed Anderlecht to grab a lifeline just after the hour mark, as Maamar’s inch-perfect delivery from the right flank was met by a completely unmarked Cvetkovic to head home from eight yards out and give Vitor Bruno’s team a glimmer of hope.

With just over 10 minutes remaining, a determined Anderlecht threw everything at Lyon in their search for an equaliser, and Descamps came to the Ligue 1 side’s rescue with a full-stretch save to deny substitute Tawfik Bentayeb from netting a sensational goal.

Anderlecht continued to press hard right to the very end in a much-improved second-half performance, but the visitors held on to secure all three points. Following this win, Lyon are now unbeaten in four games in all competitions, with this a fourth victory from five meetings. 

Anderlecht, meanwhile, suffer just a second defeat from their last 16 European home games.

Flashscore Man of the Match: Keito Nakamura (Lyon)

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