led by striker Alexandre lacazette, one of eight homegrown players in its starting lineup, lyon moved to the top of the French league on Sunday after lacazette scored twice in a 3-0 win against Toulouse to take his season’s tally to 19 in 20 games.
The win moved lyon one point clear of second-place Marseille, and an impressive four clear of two-time defending champion Paris Saint-Germain, which continues to struggle despite having five players in its squad costing more than €40 million ($47 million) while the nucleus of lyon’s side cost nothing.
While fourth-place PSG’s star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic looks short of his best since returning from a heel injury, with only one goal in his past four games, the 23-year-old lacazette has scored eight in four to attract the attentions of clubs such as Manchester City. “Alexandre was almost disappointed at the end,” Fournier said. “He wanted to score again.”
lacazette scored twice inside the first 30 minutes and 21-year-old midfielder Nabil Fekir added the other just after the break to make it eight league goals in 16 games.
The rise of lyon, which won seven straight titles until Bordeaux ended its reign in the 2008-09 campaign, is even more remarkable given that it lost three of its opening four league games. “I measure how far we’ve come,” Fournier said. “The club sticks together in difficult moments and there’s a real collective strength. Maybe we had to experience these tough times to get where we are.”