Lyon: Puel “Fast start was the key”

Lyon took another step towards a successful defence of their French Cup crown with a narrow 1-0 home victory over rivals Marseille on Wednesday that took them into the round of 16. General manager of the defending champions Claude Puel, explained to his club’s official website that this quick start was key to the whole game as it lay down a marker.

“There was a very good start to the match as we pressed the ball high up the park and were rewarded as Delgado recovered good possession and released Benzema so we started at a good tempo,” the former Lille boss explained to OLTV.

“We had to set out a policy early and an attempt was made to stick. We then had to play a quality match and play together just as effectively when we did not have the ball as when we did. It made for a good first half. There was even the chance to produce a second goal to make us safer”.