Lyon boss Bruno Genesio feels his side are capable of overturning their 4-1 first-leg loss in Thursday’s Europa League semi-final second leg against Ajax in France.
The Ligue 1 club’s hopes of appearing in a first ever European final took a damaging blow last week in the Amsterdam Arena and they know they must score at least three goals at Park OL to stand a chance of making it to Stockholm later this month.
Two goals from on-loan Chelsea striker Bertrand Traore plus efforts from Kasper Dolberg and Amin Younes have put the Dutch side in a commanding position in their bid to reach a first European showpiece in 21 years.
The winners are set to face either Manchester United or Celta Vigo in Sweden, with the Premier League club carrying a one-goal lead into their semi-final second leg at Old Trafford.
Lyon have averaged over four goals per game in their Europa League home matches this season and Genesio is refusing to panic.
“There’s an hour and a half to overcome our deficit,” said Genesio ahead of Thursday’s game.
Mathieu Valbuena’s strike in Amsterdam has given Lyon some hope and their manager points to Sunday’s 3-2 home win over Nantes in the league as evidence they can achieve their mission – though he warns they must be careful not to afford Ajax the opportunity to kill the tie.
“We’ll have to create chances and take them, but also remain calm and organised when we lose the ball,” added Genesio.
“We have to remember that we scored three goals on Sunday. And if we score three against Ajax, we could go through.”
Lyon are 5.50 to qualify for the Europa League final and are 13.00 to beat Ajax 3-0.
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