Lyon will play in the Champions League next season after securing third place in Ligue 1 on the final day of the season. While OL scored more goals than they have ever managed before in a top flight campaign, they were erratic defensively and that prevented them from challenging at the summit of the table more substantially.
Indeed, it also prevented them making greater inroads in the Europa League, in which they were knocked out at the last-16 stage by CSKA Moscow, having taken a 1-0 lead away from home. Their defensive lapses undermined their efforts but that did not stop them being one of France’s best sides to watch.
The sale of Alexandre Lacazette to Arsenal might have been a huge offensive blow, but they did tremendous work in the transfer window to capture Mariano Diaz and Bertrand Traore, who were both highly successful signings.
It was, however, Nabil Fekir who caught the offensive headlines early on. Fears that he might not be able to fire without Lacazette proved unfounded as he turned in his best season to date.
The defence, however, was already coming into the spotlight as Lyon had a habit of throwing away advantageous positions in the early stages of the season. Though only PSG beat them before the very end of November, they were initially prone to throwing away points, held by Bordeaux, Nantes and Dijon in games they might have won.
Things clicked with a 3-2 win over Monaco in October, which sparked a terrific run of results, with OL often achieving big victories, such as 5-0 wins against Saint-Etienne and Nice, both away from home.
Fixture congestion saw them struggle in the early part of 2018, though once they were out of Europe they responded brilliantly in the league, winning nine of their last 10 fixtures to finish third.
But they did not make things easy for themselves, conceding twice in stoppage time to Strasbourg to throw that position into jeopardy on the penultimate day of the season and then going down 1-0 to Nice at home before recovering to win 3-2 thanks to a hat-trick from Memphis Depay, who went goal crazy at the start of the year and was a major reason for their success.
Such lapses must be eradicated in the months ahead if they are to progress, though.
