Don’t write off champions: Nathan Lyon on Kohli’s recent batting slump
The Australian team must be hoping to take advantage of Virat Kohli’s prolonged batting slump when the two sides clash in the five-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar trophy
Memphis Depay scored a hat-trick to lead Lyon to a 4-1 victory against Dijon in their first match of Ligue 1 2020-21 season on Friday. Aurelien Scheidler scored the only goal for Dijon.
The Dutch striker Depay brought parity into the contest in the 39th minute after Scheidler had given Dijon the lead with a strike in the 14th minute.
Lyon took the lead in the form of an own goal from Dijon’s central defender Wesley Lautoa in the 45th minute. Depay was on target again at the dying minutes of the first half as the home team went 3-1 up.
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The 26-year-old has been linked with Spanish giants Barcelona after his compatriot Ronald Koeman was appointed as the head coach at the Camp Nou earlier this month. The former Dutch boss is reportedly keen on bringing his countryman to the Catalan team.
Depay didn’t rule out the possibility of a departure but insisted that his focus now was on Lyon.
“I can dream of big clubs but I’m looking to do my best here,” Depay said after the match.
The Dutchman completed the hat-trick in the 66th minute through a second penalty of the game, adding his tally in the French club to 57 goals in 139 appearances since arriving in 2017 from Manchester United.
Lyon’s French playmaker Houssem Aouar was absent from the match after testing positive for COVID-19 ahead of the clash.
Garcia’s side reached the last four of the European Champions League last week in Lisbon where they lost to eventual winner Bayern Munich 3-0 in the semifinals.
But the former Ligue 1 champions finished a poor seventh place in the curtailed 2019-2020 season, which forced them to start the new campaign without continental competitions for the first time since 1996-97.
With IANS inputs
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