Anderson stunner gives Lyon win at Inter
Goals from Sidney Govou and Sonny Anderson gave impressive Olympique Lyon a 2-1 victory over Inter Milan in Champions League group D at the San Siro stadium.
Goals from Sidney Govou and Sonny Anderson gave impressive Olympique Lyon a 2-1 victory over Inter Milan in Champions League group D at the San Siro stadium.
Lyon moved top of the group with six points ahead of Inter and Ajax on four each after Ajax and Rosenborg drew 0-0 in the group's other match.
It was a fully deserved victory for Paul Le Guen's well-organised side who played some attractive football and took advantage of the space afforded them by Inter who never found their shape or rhythm.
The sprightly Govou, the latest exciting strike talent to emerge in France, caused Inter's defence problems from the outset with his lively movement.
In the 10th minute he went close with a 20-metre shot after a pacy run, and six minutes later he broke clear of his marker but blasted over the bar from a promising position.
Just as in their fortunate win over Ajax last week, Inter were unable to find any sort of fluidity in midfield and the strike partnership of Alvaro Recoba and Hernan Crespo were given little effective service.
Even if the injured Christian Vieri had been fit to play it is unlikely he would have been able to make much of an impact with a midfield that was simply unable to provide the passes or the runs to give the frontmen a chance.
Inter midfielder Stephane Dalmat's touch let him down in the 12th minute when he failed to control a Javier Zanetti cross and Recoba tested Lyon goalkeeper Gregory Coupet with a low shot in the 13th minute but after that all the creative play came from the French side.
Lyon broke through in the 21st minute with a classic counter-attack. Anderson played the ball forward to Eric Carriere and Govou latched on to the cross to drive the ball past Inter keeper Francesco Toldo.
The break did little to interrupt the pattern of the game with Inter continuing to struggle and Lyon content to keep possession in midfield and catch the Italians with an incisive break
The impressive, nimble Carriere forced Toldo into action in the 58th minute when he nutmegged Marco Materazzi and skipped into the area but the Inter keeper was out swiftly to halt the Frenchman's path to goal.
Two minutes later, though, Lyon doubled their lead in spectacular fashion when Anderson burst towards the Inter area and unleashed a thundering drive that crashed into the top right-hand corner of Toldo's net.
Inter coach Hector Cuper brought Domenico Morfeo and Sergio Conceicao into midfield in an attempt to inject some sort of life into his side.
Morfeo whipped over a corner in the 66th minute and Luigi Di Biagio would surely have done better with his header if his team mate Ivan Cordoba had not also challenged for the cross.
It was from another set-piece seven minutes later that Inter brought themselves back into the game, with Fabio Cannavaro rising at the near post to head in a Recoba corner.
That prompted some noise from a disappointing 31,448 crowd and a late lurch forward from Inter, but while the effort re-emerged the craft did not, and Cuper was left with some thinking to do before the return match in France in three weeks time.