At OL Park,
Two remarkable moves in the open area to get rid of Bryan Okoh and Sinaly Diomande, then two clinical kicks. By scoring his first double (19th and 71st) on Saturday against Auxerre (3-2) since his arrival in Ligue 1 during the winter transfer window, Roman Yaremchuk brought OL closer to a return to the Champions League. The experienced Ukrainian center forward (30 years old) was able to break the Burgundian barrier, while attention was above all focused on the Moreira-Endrick tandem, brilliant last week against PSG (1-2).
The entire Lyon locker room was keen to congratulate the former Benfica and Olympiakos striker, hero of the day in the same way as Corentin Tolisso (a goal and an assist). “He does us good,” the OL captain was quick to note, aware that this profile of a pure surface number 9 was lacking in the squad until February. We don’t cross enough, we get too carried away trying to make combinations… As the coach said, sometimes you just have to cross because Roman has qualities in the box. With his head and foot, he is decisive. »
Eight dead in Dnipro on Saturday
Moussa Niakhaté is even more enthusiastic: “He is a top attacker when he is well served. It took us a little time to understand his way of playing. He hurts opposing defenses a lot, he weighs on them. This is once again a success on the part of the recruitment unit.” Despite three mixed first months, Roman Yaremchuk has 4 goals and 1 assist in 11 appearances with OL.
His main support Paulo Fonseca, who supported his recruitment on loan during the last transfer market, underlines the extent to which he is “decisive” in Lyon’s good series (three successes in a row in the middle of the final sprint), after his opening score with a header against Lorient (2-0) on April 12. Married to a Ukrainian and former coach of Shakhtar Donetsk (from 2016 to 2019), the Portuguese coach of OL immediately wanted to recall a heavy context to praise the performance of the day of his number 77.
“Roman deserves it, especially since today there were major Russian attacks in Ukraine (the report shows eight deaths in the city of Dnipro), says Paulo Fonseca. We may forget what he is going through, it is not easy… Today, he knows that Ukraine has suffered again and he arrived with this mental strength. This is why he is a player who really deserves to experience such a special moment, with these two goals scored. »
“He lives the situation in Ukraine intensely”
The native of Lviv, who has 17 goals in 67 caps with Ukraine, has always remained very close to his country, even if he has had adventures abroad for nine years. “Roman is a player who is experiencing the situation in Ukraine intensely,” continues Paulo Fonseca. He is a person who has helped his country a lot. Like everyone else, he is waiting for a resolution to this conflict and he suffers from this situation every day. »
Our file on OL
During his first video interview given to OL in February, Roman Yaremchuk spoke about his difficulties in pursuing his passion while the war has continued for four years in Ukraine, where his parents and his brother still live. “Of course it was quite difficult at first. When I played at Benfica (in 2021-2022), it was very stressful. Of course I read the news at home, but when I go into the field, I no longer think about the war. » While announcing that he always seeks to “represent Ukraine as best as possible”.
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