OL's Romain Faivre was a happy man after his side qualified for the Europa League quarters with a 2-1 aggregate win (1-1 on the night) over Porto, underlining his side's ambitions in both European and domestic football this season.
Lyon were in the driver's seat of the tie after clinching a 1-0 win in Portugal in the first leg, but given their 4-2 beating by Rennes at the weekend, it was far from a sure thing that they would be able to resist the Portuguese giants at Groupama Stadium on Thursday night.
'It was tough'
However, Peter Bosz's side went ahead early through Moussa Dembélé, who sprang the off-side trap to drive home a Léo Dubois cross (13'), and then hunkered down to resist the waves of Porto attacks.
"We knew that we would be up against a very good team. They were aggressive and caused us problems. It was tense until the end but we are very happy with the qualification," said attacking midfielder Romain Faivre, who has hit the ground running since signing from Brest in the winter transfer window. "By starting well, it made things easier for us but Porto are a very, very good team. They handle the ball well, it was tough."
'Ambitions to fulfil'
A gritty performance from Les Gones that had some journalists thinking that Bosz and his men could well look to prioritise the Europa League over Ligue 1 Uber Eats - where they sit tenth - as a means of returning to Europe next season, but Faivre made it clear that OL - who are just two points shy of sixth - are going to fight tooth and nail in the home stretch of the Ligue 1 Uber Eats season.
"No, we're playing everything to the fullest - there are ten finals left in the league. Everything is still up for grabs and we have ambitions to fulfil in both competitions. The league remains as important as the Europa League," said the promising youngster before adding a comment in his integration at the club. "On a personal level, I feel better and better here. The group is quality. Everything is going well so far."
OL's next test comes on Sunday as they travel to Champagne country to take on Reims in their Ligue 1 Uber Eats Round 29 fixture (kick-off at 17:05 CET).
