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As was the case last season, Lille have become the first team to beat Lyon, running out surprise 3-1 winners at the Stade Gerland.
Lyon had not lost in 26 matches under Gérard Houllier, and last tasted defeat in Ligue 1 against Paris Saint-Germain back in April.
But they failed in their quest to finish the first half of the season unbeaten, succumbing against a determined, pacy Lille side in their final game.
Claude Puel’s side defeated Lyon twice last season, once in the Coupe de la Ligue and once in Ligue 1. Both of those victories came in the north of France, but on Friday they showed they could beat the champions on their own patch.
Lille had already threatened the home goal when Peter Odemwingie opened the scoring after just eight minutes. The Nigerian crashed a shot just inside Gregory Coupet’s post after an excellent team move.
With Lille faster and hungrier in midfield, Lyon failed to find any kind of rhythm in the first period. Coupet saw Odemwingie miss the target by a whisker before the France goalkeeper had to react quickly to push out a Grégory Tafforeau free kick.
One Juninho Pernambucano free kick – which whizzed fractionally over Tony Sylva’s crossbar – was all Lyon had to show for their efforts in the first half.
Sylvain Wiltord and John Carew came on at the break and Lyon were almost level immediately. The Norwegian striker broke through but failed to beat Sylva in a one-on-one.
Carew then had a penalty appeal turned down just before the hour mark. While the Lyon players protested, Lille went straight up to the other end and doubled their lead through Mathieu Debuchy, who had been left all alone at the far post.
Sidney Govou gave Lyon hope when he reduced the lead after showing some good skill on 69 minutes, but Lille wrapped up the points with a third goal from their captain just seconds later. Stéphane Dumont thundered a header past Coupet to signal Lyon’s first defeat in the Houllier era.
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