Lyon grabbed a 1-0 victory over Schalke in the opening game of their Champions League campaign.
Howedes has night to forget with own-goal and red for Schalke
Lyon grabbed a much-needed victory over Schalke with a 1-0 win in the opening game of their UEFA Champions League Group B campaign.
Both sides headed into the game suffering from a lack of form in their respective divisions, sitting in the bottom half of their league tables after the opening games of the season.
But it was last year's semi-finalists who ran out the winners and got their season kick-started at the Stade Gerland thanks to Benedikt Howedes' first-half own goal.
It was a night to forget for German defender Howedes, who was sent off 18 minutes later to make things even more difficult for the away side.
Two of the most impressive performers of the night were two of Europe's finest goalkeepers, with French number one Hugo Lloris pulling off two superb saves early in the first half and German World Cup star Manuel Neuer also excelling for Schalke.
Lyon had several chances to kill the game off in the second half, but failed to make their superiority and strength in numbers count as Schalke faded further in the second half.
Schalke had a good chance in the first 40 seconds with a header from Jermaine Jones, but he flashed the header wide of Lloris' right hand post.
The first real chance of the evening came from a piece of opportunism from Jefferson Farfan, who got the better of Timothee Kolodzieczak, but his half volley was well saved by Lloris.
And immediately following that, Farfan was in the thick of it again with an even better chance to head home unmarked from five yards, but could only direct it over the bar.
Shaky
The home side looked extremely shaky in the opening exchanges, with the Germans looking far more comfortable in possession, with Raul looking to link up the play.
However, it was Lyon who opened the scoring in the 20th minute against the run of play following Christoph Moritz's poor attempt to cushion the ball back to Neuer.
Brazilian winger Michel Bastos nipped in to chip over Neuer and despite Howedes' best attempts to keep it out, he could only help it into the net.
Moritz nearly made amends with a good low strike towards goal just after the half-hour mark, but Lloris was at his best again with a brilliant save to get down low and tip the ball wide.
Schalke's task was made even tougher when the unfortunate Howedes was harshly given his marching orders seven minutes before the interval
The defender looked to be challenging for the ball as his leg caught Jimmy Briand high, but Croatian referee Ivan Bebek adjudged the foul to be with deliberate intent to harm the winger and gave a straight red.
Initiative
The second half was little better, with neither side failing to grab the initiative in the game.
Schalke still appeared a side looking to blend together after making changes over the summer, with Dutch international Klaas-Jan Huntelaar barely in the game at all.
Bastos got the first attempt of the second period in with a low strike from the edge of the box, but Neuer managed to shepherd the ball away from goal.
Lyon made calls for a penalty almost on the hour mark when Lisandro broke past the Schalke defence but Neuer managed to evade contact with the Argentine striker despite sliding to try and grab the ball in the area.
It was not getting any better from the German side despite their bright side, with their star-studded strike force failing to gel at all. Raul was consistently dropping further back into midfield to try and get into the game but it was much to no avail for Felix Magath's disjointed side.
Lisandro got the chance to put his side further ahead after being put through by Johann Gourcuff, but he was harshly judged to be offside as he was just about to clip the ball over the advancing Neuer.
Lyon were much in the ascendancy three quarters of the way into the game, and roared on the counter attack as Briand cut the ball back for Pjanic to attempt to pass into the net from the edge of the box, but he could only divert the ball just wide of the post when he should have done better.
Jeremy Toulalan had a great chance to win the game with 13 minutes remaining with a header from the ever-more influential Gourcuff, but despite getting his head on to the ball he failed to divert it on target and allowed Neuer to gather.
| Lyon |
Team Statistics |
FC Schalke 04 |
| 1 |
Goals |
0 |
| 1 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 5 |
Shots on Target |
2 |
| 7 |
Shots off Target |
3 |
| 4 |
Blocked Shots |
0 |
| 8 |
Corners |
4 |
| 9 |
Fouls |
10 |
| 7 |
Offsides |
1 |
| 2 |
Yellow Cards |
0 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
1 |
| 83.8 |
Passing Success |
71.1 |
| 13 |
Tackles |
21 |
| 84.6 |
Tackles Success |
71.4 |
| 61 |
Possession |
39 |
| 54 |
Territorial Advantage |
46 |
|
