Nabil Fekir scored a hat-trick inside an hour to set up Lyon's 4-0 win over 10-man Caen in Ligue 1 this evening.
The visitors looked the stronger of the two sides from the start as Mathieu Valbuena carved his way through the Caen defence before blasting a shot at the goal from the edge of the box, only to slice it over.
Lyon opened the scoring less than 20 minutes into the tie when Claudio Beauvue played a through ball into the box for Fekir, who clinically slotted it into the bottom corner with a shot at the near post.
The home side had a couple of chances to get back on level terms before the break when Andy Delort fired over from the edge of the box, before a long-range effort from the striker was kept out by the crossbar.
However, it was Lyon that got the second goal of the evening just before the interval, with Fekir collecting a lofted pass from Corentin Tolisso before rifling it into the bottom left corner off the inside of the post.
Caen saw plenty of possession at the start of the second half as they looked for a way back into the match, but Delort's dangerous-looking cross was quickly cleared, while Vincent Bessat failed to connect with his teammates from a corner.
Against the run of the play, Fekir managed to complete his hat-trick before the hour mark when Valbuena played the ball down the left, leaving the scorer of the first two goals to cut inside before curling the ball in from the edge of the box.
Any hopes Caen had of salvaging something from the tie were dealt a further blow inside the final 15 minutes when Damien da Silva was dismissed for a reckless challenge on Beauvue.
Despite being a man short, the home side threatened to get a goal back when Dennis Appiah played a long ball forward, while Syam ben Yousseff came close with a header.
However, it was Lyon who had the final say, with Fekir repaying Beauvue for setting up his opening goal of the night, teeing it up for the winger to smash into the top corner just before full time.
The result gives Lyon their second win of the campaign, moving them up to fourth in the table, while Caen sit eighth.
