In the latest show of strength in French soccer, Olympique Lyonnais on Thursday powered into the last 16 of the Europa League, handing AZ Alkmaar a second heavy beating in a week.
Lyon displayed their attacking talent by following up a 4-1 victory in the first leg with a 7-1 thrashing at home, with Nabil Fekir scoring a hat-trick.
By winning 11-2 over two legs, Lyon completed the second-biggest aggregate success in the competition’s history.
Photo: AFP
French soccer is on a high.
Paris Saint-Germain beat Barcelona 4-0 last week in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 match, while AS Monaco — the free-scoring Ligue 1 leaders — gave Manchester City a real test in the same competition on Tuesday, losing only 5-3 in their first leg after conceding three late goals.
On the day Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas said he was going to sell some of the team’s best players in the summer, they put on a show for potential buyers, although the best-known of the team’s attackers — Alexandre Lacazette — was not even on the field.
Maxwel Cornet, Sergi Darder and homegrown players Houssem Aouar and Mouctar Diakhaby also scored for Lyon.
In other results in the last-32 second legs, AS Roma were beaten 1-0 by Villarreal, but advanced 4-1 on aggregate.
A pre-match gathering with the pope could not inspire a memorable fightback by Villarreal.
Behind 4-0 after the first leg, Villarreal recovered some pride by winning the return match 1-0 in Rome, but still bowed out. Rafael Borre scored.
Villarreal’s players had an audience with Pope Francis at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City ahead of the game.
In the comeback of the round, Borussia Moenchengladbach recovered from 3-0 down on aggregate to score four goals in a 17-minute span bridging halftime and advance in the unlikeliest of fashions, winning 4-2.
Lars Stindl scored in the 44th, 47th and 55th minutes, before Andreas Christensen added the fourth goal.
Fiorentina won the first leg 1-0 and went 2-0 up in the return match through goals by Nikola Kalinic and Borja Valero.
Tottenham Hotspur had another night to forget at Wembley Stadium, drawing 2-2 with KAA Gent.
Playing their European games at the national stadium while their White Hart Lane home across north London is demolished, Spurs lost two of their three home games in the Champions League and then failed to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg against Gent in the Europa League.
Christian Eriksen’s opener for Tottenham was canceled out by Harry Kane’s own-goal. Victor Wanyama put Spurs back in front, but Jeremy Perbet equalized.
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