Nartey helps Olympique Lyonnais edge Anderlecht in Brussels

Match highlight

The visitors began with confidence and almost took the lead inside two minutes. Mohamed Ouedraogo’s close-range header was brilliantly tipped over the bar by Anderlecht goalkeeper Colin Coosemans.

However, Lyon soon turned their early dominance into a deserved opening goal. Six minutes later, Noah Nartey found the net with a precise finish from around 15 yards out.

Anderlecht made a slow start and did not create their first meaningful chance until the 20th minute, when Ali Maamar found Enric Llansana in a promising position. The midfielder, though, sent his effort wide of the target.

Lyon immediately punished that missed opportunity by doubling their advantage midway through the first half. Keito Nakamura created enough space to shoot from inside the penalty area, and his effort took an unfortunate deflection off Llansana before looping over Coosemans and into the net.

The hosts’ best chance to reduce the deficit before half-time fell to Mihajlo Cvetković, but Lyon goalkeeper Rémy Descamps made an excellent save to preserve his side’s clean sheet.

Paulo Fonseca’s team continued to impress after the interval and briefly thought they had scored a third through Tyler Morton. However, the midfielder’s simple close-range finish was ruled out for offside.

Anderlecht were handed a route back into the match shortly after the hour mark. Lyon’s defensive lapse allowed Maamar to deliver a pinpoint cross from the right, which Cvetković met completely unmarked with a header from eight metres to give Vítor Bruno’s side renewed hope.

With just over 10 minutes remaining, Anderlecht committed more players forward in search of an equaliser. Descamps came to Lyon’s rescue with a superb diving save to deny substitute Tawfik Bentayeb a spectacular goal.

The Belgian side continued to press hard until the final whistle after a vastly improved second-half showing, but Lyon held firm to secure all three points.

The result extends Lyon’s unbeaten run in all competitions to four matches and marks their fourth victory in five meetings with Anderlecht. For the hosts, it was only their second defeat in 16 recent home matches in European competition.