Snubbed by his peers for the title of best Ligue 1 player, Alexandre Lacazette was decisive again on Friday evening with Lyon against Monaco (3-1).
The struggle continues ! A week after his missed penalty at Clermont (2-1) in added time, Alexandre Lacazette raised his head at OL-Monaco (3-1). Once again decisive, the Rhone captain struck for the 26th time this season, and returned to the height of Kylian Mbappé at the top of the Ligue 1 scorer rankings.
Despite these performances, Lacazette is not among the finalists for the UNFP Trophy for best Ligue 1 player, which will be played between Mbappé, Lionel Messi, Loïs Openda, Seko Fofana and Jonathan David. And this absence remains incomprehensible on the side of Lyon. “No, I don’t get it, Rayan Cherki told L’Equipe. He is a big part of it (of the five best players in Ligue 1, editor’s note). He deserved it. For me, it is even in the two best. He must have even more aggressiveness to show that he figured to be there. »
We can however find two explanations for this absence of Lacazette. The first is that Olympique Lyonnais is collectively having a disappointing season, even if Laurent Blanc’s men are trying to make a desperate comeback in the race for Europe in the return phase. Quite the opposite of the Lensois, which benefits Openda and Fofana.
The second is that Lacazette has especially shone in recent weeks. When the votes were recorded, it was Jonathan David who was the main rival for Mbappé in the race for the title of top scorer. Author of 16 goals in 2023, including a quadruple against Montpellier two weeks ago, the perfect “general” obviously too far to integrate this finalist for the title of best player, of which Alexis Sanchez (OM) is the other conspicuously absent.
The players who have scored the most in the 5 major leagues in 2023:
🥇 Lacazette (16)
🥈 Haaland (15)MONSTROUS. 🤯🔥 pic.twitter.com/Rs0FWfVBNG
— Instant Foot ⚽️ (@lnstantFoot) May 19, 2023
