After coming on as a substitute for Lyon on Saturday, Claudio Beauvue sunk his old club Guingamp with a 79th minute go-ahead strike to send Les Gones home with three away points.
A glimmer of luck helps Lyon break through
Beauvue took his opportunistic chance when a defensive header by Benjamin Brou Angoua went rogue and left the French striker along with an easy chip header to softly place over Guingamp keeper Mamadou Samassa. The mistaken headed clearance came off a through ball from Jordan Ferri that would not have otherwise found its target.
As a striker last season for Saturday's opponent, Beauvue had netted 17 league goals. As a tribute to the fans and supporters from his time at the club, he gave a sly and apologetic wave towards the crowd following his devastating header to win it on Saturday.
The match had been at a scoreless deadlock up to that point, Lyon dominating possession of the football but unable to break through until Beauvue provided the much-needed spark with less than 15 minutes to go in the match. Lyon had been scoreless for the first 169 minutes of their season, as their opening match resulted in a 0-0 draw against Lorient last week.
Newly-signed attacking midfielder Mathieu Valbuena continued to impress for manager Hubert Fournier. Valbuena starred for Lyon, creating numerous promising chances on the offensive and being involved in most forays in that half of the pitch.
Nabil Fekir, who had an outstanding 2014-15 season, remains scoreless along with fellow strike partner Alexandre Lacazette, however he did have two close calls at goal on Saturday. A sixth-minute strike he created himself from just atop the penalty area was saved admirably by Samassa, and then a free kick from decent range swerved just wide right 20 minutes later.
Guingamp nearly hold on to eke out draw
The home club in this match kept up with 2014-15 Ligue 1 runner-ups Lyon for most of this contest, ending in a dead heap of 11 shots flung at goal (3 on target for each side).
Mustapha Diallo had a golden opportunity to head a corner into back-post net off one of nine Guingamp corners, but unfortunately for him and EAG, Lyon keeper Anthony Lopes made a phenomenal save to direct the shot of the post and out of harm's way.
In terms of maintaining ball security and possession, Guingamp were getting purely dominated in terms of possession (a 67-33 percent advantage for the visitors) and completion of passes. Lyon had a 79% pass accuracy rate while EAG were just at 61%. Lyon also nearly tripled Guingamp's total number of passes.
Where this puts each side
The Ligue 1 2015-16 season has just started, so standings are meaningless at this point. Nevertheless, here is the current picture for these two clubs after their second result.
Lyon now are at 4 points after 2 matches played, and are considered a slot below Champions League placement in the league table due to less goals scored than both Angers and AS Monaco. Meanwhile, Guingamp find themselves in the relegation zone without a point to date.
The next match for Lyon is on home turf facing Stade Rennais F.C. next Saturday, while Guingamp travel to Bastia for an away match that same day.
