Around OL – Henry Snubbed by Les Bleues

Here’s all the latest news from around the OL family.

Henry “Shocked” at French National Team Exclusion

Olympique Lyonnais midfielder and French national team captain Amandine Henry was “shocked” to not be called in by national team coach Corinne Diacre for a pair of upcoming UEFA Women’s Championship Qualifying matches, OL women’s team director Olivier Blanc said last week.

Henry, who has 92 appearances and 13 goals for France, has played the full 90 minutes in each of OL’s last three league matches, scoring in last weekend’s win over Guingamp.

Diacre explained that she had not selected Henry to allow the midfielder to fully return to form after a calf injury she sustained in the Champions League in August, but Blanc dismissed the notion that the midfielder was not fully fit.

“It is (Diacre’s) position, one that we respect but do not share,” Blanc said. “Amandine was injured at the start of the season but she has played the last three matches as a starter with OL and gave (OL head coach) Jean-Luc Vasseur full satisfaction. She is a leader with OL who has won everything with the club again this season, and I feel like she is a leader with the French team of which she is the captain… She was very surprised and shocked by this decision and I felt very affected because she is very attached to playing for France, like all of our French players.”

France is currently 4-0-0 in group play in Group C of the UEFA Championship Qualifiers and is set to play North Macedonia (1-0-5, 3 points, 4th) and group-leaders Austria (5-0-0, 15 points, 1st) in the next two weeks.

Lopes, Memphis Named to Team of the Round

Freshly returned from international duty, OL goalkeeper Anthony Lopes and forward Memphis Depay had strong performances for their club in a win over Strasbourg, earning them each a selection to L’Equipe’s Team of the Round for Matchday Seven.

Lopes made a pair of big saves and Depay assisted on all three of Lyon’s goals to earn their selections.

Les Fenottes beat Guingamp 4-0

Olympique Lyonnais Féminin (6-0-0, 18 points, 1st) dispatched visitors Guingamp (1-5-0, 3 points, 11th) 4-0 at the Groupama OL Academy on Friday.

Amandine Henry opened the scoring in the 37th minute, calmly heading in a cross from Delphine Cascarino to score from six yards out.

Amel Majri opened the floodgates in the 70th minute, trapping a ball with her chest before lobbing the ball over keeper Solène Durand for her first goal of the year.

Cascarino tallied her second assist three minutes later, backheeling a ball to Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir that the midfielder finished through traffic to the left post.

Majri scored her second goal of the match in the 81st minute, striking a cross from Eugénie Le Sommer with her first touch to beat Durand to the near post for a brace as the club took three points at home.

Lyon Defeat Strasbourg 3-2

A trio of first half goals was enough to help Olympique Lyonnais (2-1-4, 10 points, 9th) overcome RC Strasbourg Alsace (1-6-0, 3 points, 18th) on the road on Sunday.

Forward Tino Kadewere opened the scoring 12 minutes in, sprinting on to a long through ball from Memphis Depay and firing a shot that bounced off Strasbourg keeper Bingourou Kamara’s legs and into the net.

In the 26th minute, Depay notched his second assist, sprinting up the right side before laying a ball across the goal line that was finished by Karl Toko Ekambi at the back post to make it 2-0.

Depay created Lyon’s third goal in the 42nd minute, collecting a through ball from Thiago Mendes and drawing Kamara out of the net, before laying it off to Toko Ekambi to allow the Cameroonian to complete his brace into an empty net.

Strasbourg pulled a goal back one minute later when Habib Diallo finished a save that rebounded off of Lyon keeper Anthony Lopes. The home side scored again in the 55th minute, as Jean-Eudes Aholou threaded a ball through traffic to beat Lopes at the right post.

From there, Lyon was unable to capitalize on several promising chances to score, but the defense managed to see out the result as the club broke a five-match winless streak.

Upcoming Matches Around OL

Olympique Lyonnais vs. AS Monaco – Groupama Stadium, Décines-Charpieu, France – Sunday, October 25, 1:00 p.m. PT