'As if by magic': Star now has 20 goals since leaving Arsenal months ago

By Laurent Blanc’s admission, a Lyon side trying to win a Ligue 1 game without Alexandre Lacazette is like a chef trying to cook a Michelin star meal without turning the stove on. Like attempting to paint a masterpiece with the lights turned down. 

“Alexandre Lacazette? When he is not there, scoring goals becomes complicated,” Blanc admitted after the Lyon legend came off the bench to rescue a point during a 3-3 draw with Lille thanks to two brilliantly-taken finishes. 

“There was suspense, good players on both sides. Two coaches with attacking intent. That makes for good games. But it’s as if by magic, when Lacazette wasn’t there, you could see his importance to the team. Scoring goals is the hardest thing in football.” 

Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images

That may be true. But the veteran Frenchman is making that ‘hardest thing in football’ cliche look a little silly right now.

Alexandre Lacazette hits 20 goals after leaving Arsenal

Lacazette left Arsenal on a free transfer last summer after scoring just six times under Mikel Arteta in 2021/22.  Suggestions that the 31-year-old had lost his golden touch have been emphatically disproven since Lacazette returned to his old stomping ground, however; that clinical cameo against Lille taking his tally to 20 goals in 26 starts across all competitions. 

Only one player in Lyon’s entire history has found the net as many times as Lacazette. Hit the target next time out against FC Nantes – in what would be his 150th for the club – and an academy graduate who began his OL career all the way back in 2003 will seize the throne for himself. 

“My entry (into the game) was complicated. I conceded a penalty. It is perhaps one of the only times in my career,” Lacazette tells the club website; his inadvertent handball giving Lille a 3-1 lead before taking it upon himself to claw back a point with two brilliant finishes in the final ten minutes. 

“The team had great mental strength tonight. I had been away for three weeks (due to injury). And I was really looking forward to getting back on the pitch. I am happy to have been able to help the team.” 

Lille OSC v Olympique Lyonnais - Ligue 1
Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images

In other news, Raphinha ‘even better’ than Antony as Arsenal and Newcastle eye £55m ace

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