OLYMPIQUE LYONNAIS BEHIND THE SCENES - EPISODE 3

Alice Sombath: In November, we played Paris FC.

Kadidiatou Diani: The Champions League started back up.

Christiane Endler: And we played at the Groupama Stadium.

Sombath: We'll tell you all about in the Behind the Scenes on OLPlay.

[opening credits]

[CLIPS FROM TRAINING FOOTAGE]

Diani: Yeah, the month of November was pretty packed. We started the month with a game against Paris FC. I think it was a highly anticipated game since it was the first ranked team in the league against the second ranked team.

[PARIS FC - LYON GAME FOOTAGE]

Diani: It was really a great goal from Eugenie [Le Sommer], it was really instinctual of a goal scorer. And for us, we like seeing that, it makes us happy, it puts us in front.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Endler: Paris FC equalized. It was the first goal we - I - conceded that year. [sounding really annoyed] That goal, it was easily avoidable, but it's always difficult against Paris FC. We know that they have good players, a lot of quality, that they can score.

Diani: I think there wasn't any doubt. We know it's not always easy, but if we continued on the right track then we knew we could come back and even score more goals. It's true that in that game, I felt pretty good physically. Then for Ada's [Hegerberg] goal, I think I got the ball pretty far out wide, so I started moving inside because of that. I dribbled past one player, then another, and then I saw Ada by herself, she wasn't being covered by any player. She called for the ball so I slipped it to her. And then we went ahead.

[GAME F00TAGE CONTINUES]

Diani: Yeah, I always get comments like how it's weird when I score headers, but I think I score headers pretty regularly. [laughs]

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Diani: I think it was one of the best atmospheres we've had after a game, with a real victory chant. We were all really happy, and even more so because we played a really good game, the scoreline was big. So a lot of happiness after that game.

Endler: After that, we had a big game against Montpellier.

[LYON - MONTPELLIER GAME FOOTAGE]

Diani: Yes, games against Montpellier are always tough, they're a very physical team. You really have to impose yourself physically and never back down. We know what to expect when we play those sorts of games.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Endler: We know that it's not our style of play to play pretend, to stay down when nothing is going on. When someone stays down, it's because something happened. The Montpellier players were playing extremely rough.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Diani: [laughs] It was a poacher's goal. I followed the ball and pushed it - all I had to do was push the ball over the line. Another mistake from them, we're going to take it.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Sombath: [laughs] I had never seen three (3) own goals before, but there's a first time for everything, and it happened with us.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Sombath: And after that, it was the beginning of the Champions League.

[TRAVEL FOOTAGE]

Diani: This Champions League, I think everyone was waiting for it. It's really an extraordinary competition, everyone wants to play in, everyone wants to take part, and obviously win it.

Sombath: I was really looking forward to the Champions League, I think everyone was. It's a really special competition for us. We all wanted to get it started.

[PREGAME SPEECH FOOTAGE]

Ada Hegerberg: This is the Champions League, this is our competition. We can't repeat last season.

Wendie Renard: We have to be better in every aspect tonight. From the very beginning. There will be no gifts tonight.

Sonia Bompastor: We talked about ambition. It starts tonight. We're starting the Champions League campaign. I want to see a team steam rolling in every part of the game. Okay?

[SLAVIA PRAGUE - LYON GAME FOOTAGE]

Sombath: Yeah, I think we sent a message to the other teams by hitting hard and scoring nine goals in the first game. After the game, when we were celebrating, there was the chant led by Ellie [Carpenter] which is really funny.

[FOOTAGE OF THE POSTGAME CHANT]

Sombath: First of all we really enjoyed the win and then there was that moment of laughter with Ellie's chant. We saw all the players being so happy, so proud of themselves. There was a lot of banter between all the players. I'll always remember that night, it was really special.

[FOOTAGE OF THE FAMOUS BANANA]

Endler: And then we returned for the league game against Dijon.

[LYON - DIJON GAME FOOTAGE]

Sombath: It was pretty complicated, we knew that Dijon plays with a low block, if I remember correctly they were playing with five defenders. It was really complicated in front of goal, we had to play well by covering the entire pitch, and move the ball. We needed to be more technical, move the ball better, so it was pretty complicated, especially after we conceded that goal.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Endler: You could say that it was an error from Laura [Benkarth], I don't totally agree because in that position, you have to stay high to be compact. It's not an obvious error and it's not easy to go into a game and concede a goal like that.

Sombath: No, we always try to support the goalkeeper, there's a lot of solidarity between the players. It was frustrating to concede that goal. That being said, mistakes happen from time to time, the opposing team can perform well. So we just try to support each other and react to what is in front of us.

Diani: We didn't give up. We wanted to come back before half time and that's precisely what we did. We were able to put the game away in the second half.

Sombath: We were taking a corner. The ball came back to me a little bit in front of me, just outside the box. When I saw the ball, I didn't hesitate and I went to shoot. I was really happy to score my second goal and thus draw level against Dijon.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Diani: After Dijon, we played the Champions League at home against St Polten.

[PREGAME PRESS CONFERENCE FOOTAGE]

Endler: Melchie [Dumornay], she's an important player for us. It's true that we have a good group, but you always want to have every player available. For Melchie as well, it's not easy. She arrived this summer and integrated the group really well. We're eager for her to recover quickly so she can come back stronger and help us win.

[LYON - ST POLTEN GAME FOOTAGE]

Endler: The game against St Polten was a little weird for us. We were really happy to return to Groupama Stadium. We started the game really well, scored really early.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Endler: But after, we didn't really play very well like we had in other games. I don't think it was a question of attitude, because we're always there, we always want to play, to win. But it happens sometimes, when things don't work out the way you want.

Sombath: We had difficulties in terms of being technically efficient, even in the play itself. But even when we aren't playing at our best, we always try to get points, to win games. That's the most important part, because we can't always put on a perfect performance each game, what matters is that we continue to win. That's the most important thing.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Sombath: And then we finished the month away at Guingamp.

[GUINGAMP - LYON GAME FOOTAGE]

Endler: For me, Danielle [van de Donk] has been performing really well the whole season. She's an important player, she scores, but she also puts in a lot of effort. She runs a lot to win the ball back quickly, she puts the opponent under a lot of pressure. I think it's magnificent, everything she has done this season.

Endler: I think the context of the game was much better. We played really well, it's a shame we conceded a goal as well. Apart from that goal, they didn't get close to goal.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Endler: I think she was lucky to score, and for me, it's painful to concede like that.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Endler: Ada, she always wants to score. It's her ambition in front of goal, to score. It's why she has already scored 250 goals for Lyon. It's impressive.

[GAME FOOTAGE CONTINUES]

Sombath: Overall I think the month of November was pretty good. We won all our games, we got good results. After, there were games which were a bit more complicated, but at the end of the day we got all the points possible.