The young Nigeria international played a crucial role as Les Dogues handed a shock 0-1 home defeat to Rudi Garcia’s men on Tuesday night in the Ligue 1.
Victor Osimhen grabbed his third assist of the 2019/20 season when he set up Ikone’s second half winner as Lille claimed their first away league victory of the season over Lyon at the Groupama Stadium in front of 42,535 spectators.
The former Sporting Charleroi striker has now recorded eight goals and three assists for coach Christophe Galtier’s side making him the top scoring youngster – aged 20 or under – in the top 5 European leagues this season.
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The 20-year-old is also one of the most productive players in the Ligue 1 making 11 contributions to Lille’s overall output with only Monaco’s Slimani getting more with 13 – 6 goals, 7 assists.
A dull first half with very few chances ended goalless but Osimhen, despite being under watch by three Lyon defenders proved yet to be a handful with a fine save from Lopes denying him from opening the scoring with a smart header in the 16th minute.
However, Lyon pressed forward after the restart with the confidence of a team that had only recently smashed Brest 5-0 and was welcoming captain Memphis Delay – absent since November 5 – from an injury layoff. Still, Lille held on firm at the back.
And with barely 20 minutes left of play, the home side felt a taste of the Osimhen magic. Jason Denayer’s firm pass forward was trapped sharply by the Super Eagles forward whose first time control set up Ikone nicely to dash into the hosts box and finish coolly past Lopes in goal.
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The win shoots Lille up to 4th place (25 points) on the Ligue 1 standings with just one point separating Les Dogues from Bordeaux in third while Lyon drop down to 8th.
