Lyon remain bottom of the table and without a win this season after coming from behind to draw 1-1 with fellow strugglers Metz on Sunday.
THE MATCH
Six points adrift of their 16th-placed opponents and safety before kick-off, Lyon were looking to shake off not only their poor form, but also the incidents that led to them not playing at Marseille last weekend.
Without a win this season, and beaten by the side just above them in the table - Clermont - in their previous league outing, Fabio Grosso's men were seeking an early boost in confidence, and but for the outstretched foot of Alexandre Oukidja that kicked away a Mama Baldé shot, they would have had one within 60 seconds of kick-off (1').
With club president John Textor not at the game, his place was taken by NBA legend Tony Parker - the ex-San Antonio Spurs star must have admired the handling of Anthony Lopes when the Lyon goalkeeper moved smartly to his right to prevent Sinaly Diomandé's miscued clearance from finding his own net (4').
Injury then forced Metz, who had picked up just a single point and scored only one goal in their last five games, into a major reshuffle with Oukidja limping off to give young Guillaume Dietsch the opportunity to make his Ligue 1 Uber Eats debut (18').
Lyon had won 46 of their previous 90 top-flight games against Metz, but struggled to impose themselves on the visitors with Dietsch largely untroubled before the break. Rather, it was Lopes who had to work much harder to keep Lyon level at the interval.
The boyhood Lyon fan virtually single-handedly kept his side in it. First, he kept out Ablie Jallow's first-time effort (40') before denying the Metz forward again, leaping to his right to push out a low drive from outside the penalty area (42') to leave OL looking likely to extend their miserable ten-game winless run.
Grosso, however, clearly found the words to motivate his team to step up their efforts at the break. Dietsch made his first significant save from Skelly Alvero (50') and quickly followed that up by brilliantly blocking Alexandre Lacazette's point-blank effort (52') after the ball had dropped to the former Arsenal forward from a Maxence Caqueret corner. Lacazette had scored in each of his previous four top-flight encounters with Metz - today was not to be the ex-France international's day, however.
The joint-arrival of Rayan Cherki and Ernest Nuamah (58') did give Lyon some additional forward impetus and provoked a glimmer of hope around the Groupama Stadium. Nuamah looked like he would break the deadlock, but Metz captain Matthieu Udol blocked the Ghana international's effort with a desperate lunge (76') and it proved doubly valuable when - barely 60 seconds later - Jallow rattled in the opener off a post at the opposite end (77').
In imminent danger of suffering a devastating defeat, Lyon responded to salvage a point with an equaliser just seven minutes later: Cherki picked up his first goal involvement of the season with the pass for Alvero to score - his first career top-flight strike - and secure a point but leave OL still looking for a maiden win of the 2023-24 campaign (84') ahead of a tough run of fixtures against Rennes, Lille and Lens.
THE PLAYER: Skelly Alvero
The summer arrival from Sochaux was a towering figure in midfield for Lyon, and not ony for his 2.02m (6'6") physique. The 21-year-old is still finding his feet at this level, but this display suggests there is a lot more to come.
THE STAT: 3
This was Lyon's third successive home meeting with Metz without winning. They had won each of their first nine home games against the Lorraine outfit in the 21st century.
