Soccer Football - Europa League - Olympique Lyonnais v Ludogorets Razgrad - Groupama Stadium, Lyon, France - January 30, 2025 Olympique Lyonnais' Corentin Tolisso celebrates scoring their first goal REUTERS/Abdul Saboor
(Reuters) - Olympique Lyonnais secured a direct spot for the Europa League last 16 despite a lacklustre 1-1 home draw against Ludogorets in the final round of league phase on Thursday.
The result left the French side in sixth place with 15 points from eight games.
Corentin Tolisso opened the scoring early in the second half after benefiting from a defensive blunder before Dinis Almeida levelled with 13 minutes left.
Lyon were without a permanent coach after Pierre Sage was sacked earlier this week amid a string of poor results with Paulo Fonseca set to succeed him on Friday.
Ludogorets, who were already eliminated, put on a decent fight and could have wrapped up the win in the second half.
The visitors had keeper Sergio Padt to thank for in the opening half but Lyon avoided defeat in the dying second thanks to a superb save by Lucas Perri and were booed by their crowd as they left the pitch.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
