Although Olympique Lyonnais have been making a habit of it for many years, the revelation of this player trained at the club was not necessarily expected at the start of the year. The 20-year-old Bradley Barcola, who was not in the limelight at the start of the season before being called up regularly by Laurent Blanc in mid-January, is now making his mark in attack as Olympique Lyonnais play a Coupe de France semi-final in Nantes on Wednesday.

At OL since 2010

Barcola, a product of the youth academy at Lyon, joined the club in 2010. Born in Villeurbanne to Togolese parents, the striker started playing football at AS Buers, a local club, before signing for OL in September 2021.

He made his first-team debut on 4 November of that year in a Europa League match against Sparta Prague, immediately providing an assist for Karl Toko Ekambi in a 3-0 win.

He made his first start against Marseille on 1 May 2022, but waited until his second season with the pros, on 7 January against Metz (2-1) in the round of 32 of the Coupe de France, to score his first professional goal, and another month to open his account in Ligue 1 Uber Eats, at Troyes (3-1 win).

Four goals in eight Ligue 1 Uber Eats games

On Sunday night, the Lyon lad came on in the 23rd minute - in place of the injured Swede Amin Sarr - and quickly got into the game against PSG. He once again pulled off a great performance, and scored his fourth Ligue 1 Uber Eats goal of the year - and his fourth away from home.

"I was pretty disappointed not to have started. I wasn't warmed up when I got on the pitch, but my first run was deep into space and that woke me up. I realised I had a great hand to play in this match," recounted Barcola, who was also part of the move that led to Lyon's penalty, which Alexandre Lacazette fired into the upright. "I think I played my heart out and deserved the goal."

The goal continued an interesting trend: when Barcola scores, OL do not lose (three wins and a draw). And he sits third on the club's scorers chart, only behind Lacazette (17 goals) and Tetê (six). And the No 26 is one of six 'home-grown players' to have found the net in Ligue 1 Uber Eats (Lacazette, Cherki, Caqueret, Lukeba, Aouar).

The stat

At 20 years and 212 days old, Bradley Barcola is the youngest player in Europe's top five leagues to have been involved in ten goals in all competitions in 2023 (six goals and four assists), ahead of the Coupe de France semi-final against FC Nantes.

Blossoming under Blanc

Barcola, who was used sparingly by Dutch coach Peter Bosz until his tenure ended on 9 October, has benefited from the opportunity Laurent Blanc has given to young players since the winter. Although Blanc did not start Barcola immediately, the former France and PSG coach quickly saw the young man's qualities.

"He surprises me on a physical level. He doesn't second-guess himself... he scores goals, even though he is not necessarily an out-and-out striker. He can easily eliminate his opponents with his technical finesse and speed," said the Lyon coach after the win at the Parc. "When he wasn't a starter, I told him to be attentive and serious because he was certainly going to be able to occupy an important position in the team. He must have thought I was crazy not to play him. But I already had a few ideas."

And although he is not a centre-forward, Barcola is only one goal away from the tally Lacazette racked up when he was 20 years old (five goals in 2011-12) and well ahead of  Hatem Ben Arfa's one goal in six appearances or Sidney Govou's no goals in four games in 99-00.

France U21 call-up

His performances at the beginning of the year with Les Gones led France U21 coach Sylvain Ripoll to call him up for the last round of matches, along with Johann Lepenant. After coming on against England (4-0), he made his first start for Les Bleuets against Spain (0-0), delivering a convincing performance before giving way to club-mate Rayan Cherki - a good opportunity for him to score points in view of the upcoming U21 Euro (21 June-8 July).