Bertrand Traoré bagged a brace as Olympique Lyonnais eased to a 3-0 victory against ESTAC Troyes on Sunday, stretching their winning streak to eight games.
Olympique Lyonnais 3 – 0 ESTAC Troyes 
THE MATCH
Traoré has been the least prolific of Lyon’s attacking quartet this season behind Mariano Díaz, Nabil Fekir and Memphis Depay. However, the Burkina Faso international made the difference here, opening the scoring in the 28th minute thanks to a touch of class. Houssem Aouar met Depay’s corner with a first-time effort that would have been saved had Traoré, five yards out, not diverted it past Erwin Zelazny with his left heel.
He followed that by getting his and Lyon’s second goal seven minutes later, heading in from Ferland Mendy’s left-wing cross, with Zelazny getting a touch but unable to keep the ball out (35′).
He even missed an excellent chance in between his two goals, firing wide after being teed up by Tanguy Ndombele, and this was not a vintage Lyon performance. However, they withstood a spell of Troyes pressure in the second half, as Mathieu Gorgelin – standing in for suspended first-choice goalkeeper Anthony Lopes – kept a clean sheet on a rare start.
And the home side made sure of the points with two minutes left thanks to Maxwel Cornet. Having replaced Fekir for the closing stages, he latched onto a Mendy ball into the box to finish past Zelazny from a tight angle and grab his second goal in three games.
Lyon hold onto second place in the table after this latest win, while a fifth defeat in six outings sees Troyes slip into an automatic relegation place, three points from outright safety, after LOSC won 3-2 at Toulouse.
THE PLAYER: Bertrand Traoré
Gorgelin deserves credit for his performance coming in from the cold, but Traoré made the difference. He has now scored six goals in Lyon’s last five games, and is on 13 in his debut Ligue 1 Conforama campaign.
THE STAT: 8
Lyon have now recorded eight consecutive wins as they close in on a place in next season’s UEFA Champions League. It is their best run since winning nine on the bounce between August and October 2006, en route to winning the title.
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