At OL Park,
On March 5 at 10:30 p.m., Moussa Niakhaté was once again launched into a season as the ultimate captain, almost without any major errors, and in the mix to win a Coupe de France and even the Europa League with OL, as leader of the first phase. Far from the trials and errors of his first year in Lyon, the Senegalese central defender became the vice-captain of his club, and winner of the major title of his life on January 18, at the end of a memorable final of the African Cup of Nations against Morocco (1-0 after extra time).
“It’s the season of a lifetime,” he said at the end of November on Téléfoot by looking ahead in particular to this CAN 2025. And then in this crazy dynamic, everything came to a halt for him during the penalty shootout against RC Lens, in the quarter-final of the Coupe de France at Parc OL. His much too timid/readable attempt was stopped by Robin Risser, recording an elimination (2-2, 4-5) in an orphan edition of PSG.
Tagliafico could have been excluded before him
This Thursday, during the round of 16 second leg of the Europa League against Celta Vigo (0-2, 1-1 first leg), it was his expulsion in the 19th minute which precipitated the rout of his team. His teammate Nicolas Tagliafico had a narrow escape for a huge sole (although unintentional) in the middle of the surface on Javier Rueda (2nd). It was on this same Rueda that Moussa Niakhaté in turn left his crampons lying around.
The fault is certainly not extremely serious, but the direct red card is not undeserved for this intervention which is as clumsy as it is unnecessary. Already struggling against Galician pressing, OL officially abandoned any offensive ambition, relying on saves from Dominik Greif, until goals from Javier Rueda (0-1, 61st) and Ferran Jutgla (0-2, 90th+2).
Fonseca sees this expulsion as “a coincidence”
His central defense friend Clinton Mata, who would have liked the referee to check the action with the VAR, unsurprisingly wanted to defend him after this disillusionment. “No one can blame him for this red card, it happens in all football matches,” he said. Unfortunately it fell on him this evening, but no one blames him. » Because Moussa Niakhaté is THE positive locker room leader unanimously appreciated by the group. But was he in the right mental condition to play such a decisive match, less than two days after discovering CAF’s lunar decision to deprive Senegal of its crown as African champion?
His trainer Paulo Fonseca has no doubts about this. “For me, this red card is a coincidence. Moussa is one of the most mentally balanced players on our team. Learning that he had lost this title in Africa was difficult for him. But I have a lot of confidence in him and I don’t believe that this situation influenced Moussa’s match. He is one of our strongest players mentally and I continue to have complete confidence in our captain. »
He sought to “stay focused on OL”
The OL coach’s speech can be heard, but the sequence of stories posted Tuesday evening by Moussa Niakhaté on his Instagram account, less than 48 hours before this OL-Celta event, shows the extent to which he was in shock at the twist orchestrated by CAF. “It’s certain that it can’t be easy for him to live with at the moment,” Lyon midfielder Orel Mangala commented this Thursday evening. But that’s what a team is: we’re going to support him and he’s going to get back up.” At the start of his pre-match press conference on Wednesday, the 30-year-old Senegalese defender briefly returned to the subject.
Our file on OL
“Out of respect for the club and out of respect for the importance of tomorrow’s crucial match, I wouldn’t want to go into too much detail. You saw my reaction on social networks, it is the same today. Nothing changes for me compared to what I experienced two months ago. I will answer these questions when the time comes, but that is not today’s topic. There I will stay focus on Olympique Lyonnais. » Was he really able to stay that way this Thursday, when we noticed the feverishness of his sole? This is also the first expulsion of his career since October 1, 2023 with Nottingham Forest.
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