John Textor can smile. Present last night at Groupama Stadium, the American businessman attended the victory against Grenoble (2-1) and the qualification of Olympique Lyonnais for the semi-finals of the Coupe de France. And the icing on the cake, the majority shareholder of the Rhone club experienced Jeffinho’s first goal live in the Lyon jersey. A player he personally recruited this winter. Indeed, the Brazilian evolved in Botafogo, one of the other clubs which belongs to Textor.
A goal and an injury
Arriving at the very end of the transfer window, the Auriverde footballer was injured. He had to wait a while before taking his first steps at OL. And it was in Angers that he started last Saturday. Entering the game 24 minutes, the 23-year-old resumed smoothly in Ligue 1. On Tuesday, he continued with his first start against Grenoble in the Coupe de France. Aligned on the left in the 4-4-2 set up by Laurent Blanc, he quickly shone. Stirring and very active, he did not hesitate to try his luck. Generous in effort, he multiplied deep calls and fast runs with or without the ball.
And he was rewarded by scoring his first goal in the 37th minute with a nice flat foot following a serve from Nicolas Tagliafico. A goal he celebrated by performing a backflip. Shortly after, the Brazilian signaled to the bench that he was touched and he left immediately. Some have mentioned an injury related to his cabriole. In a press conference after the match, Laurent Blanc did not give any explanation regarding this injury. On the other hand, he was very excited about his rookie. “I think he’s a player who will be fun to see, who will be fun for you (journalists, editor’s note) because he is able to make the difference when he has the ball.”
White is already charmed
He then added: “He smells of football as he often does with Brazilians. He has a Brazilian touch on the ball, technically very interesting, with a somewhat atypical game because he is only in recovery of support. He accelerates, he brakes, he doesn’t fall, he starts again. He is a spectacular player (…) The only problem is that he arrives in a European city where it is cold and he comes from Brazil so there is an acclimatization to be had. He did not arrive in the best condition with an injury that kept him out of action for two weeks.
Finally, he concluded: “I knew he wasn’t ready to play a full match but I didn’t have much choice. I told myself that for 40-45 minutes, he could bring us. What is interesting about him is that we can play in the feet but also in space and that is interesting for a coach. For his part, Jeffinho was on cloud nine despite his physical glitch. ” I am very happy. These are my first steps in this stadium, with the public. We move on and we continue. My teammates help me a lot. The warmth of the public is good. I like to see supporters like that. I wanted to scream my joy when I scored my goal. A successful first for Jeffinho, who did not expect to experience such an evening.
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