Recap: Camara & Ajorque combine to fire Brest to victory vs Lyon

Stade Brestois earned their first victory of 2025 with a 2-1 win over Olympique Lyonnais on Saturday afternoon, which saw the Bretons move up to 10th place.

Stade Brestois were hoping for their first victory of 2025 as they hosted Olympique Lyonnais at Stade Francis Le Blé. Pierre Sage's side travelled to Brittany after beginning the year with the 1-0 triumph over Montpellier HSC at home, and were hoping to further secure their spot in 5th place in the Ligue 1 McDonald's table. After a quick delay due to a ploom of smoke engulfing the field of play, the match was firmly underway.

Les Brestois stormed into a one goal lead early in the game via their first attack of the match. Mama Baldé's cross was met by Ludovic Ajorque, who put the ball on a plate for Mahdi Camara after his attempt was parried by Lucas Perri. Camara followed up with a strike which met the back of the net via the crossbar (8'). After providing the assist for the first, Ajorque would strike again on the break with the second, after Doumbia picked up on a loose ball and played a precise through pass for Mahdi Camara who provided a clever back-heel for Ajorque. The Frenchman simply burst through one-on-one with Perri and poked a finish whilst losing balance to double Les Ti'zefs lead against Les Gones.

Lyon then tried to get a foot in the game, passing nicely around the Brest box and slipping through Alexandre Lacazette onto goal with Marco Bizot saving cleverly with his right ankle to keep OL at bay. Yet Pierre Sage's side would get themselves back into the game just before the break via Jordan Veretout, who met Malick Fofana's pull-back on the edge of the box with a deadly low first-time strike into the right corner (45+2') Les Lyonnais thought they had levelled proceedings only seconds later via Corentin Tolisso's header, but it would be ruled out by the offside flag as the half drew to a close.

Lyon came out quickly in the second half, but another counter-attack on the break would see Brest threaten Les Lyonnais once again. Former OL man Mama Baldé finished low into the right corner, yet the floated ball provided to play him in would be ruled out for offside by VAR. Pierre Sage's side couldn't afford to concede another, as they edged closer to the hour mark still chasing the game. Mahdi Camara showed some great pace to burst into the box, dribbling past Caleta-Car but his strike was just deflected wide. Baldé would follow up with a tame effort inside the box as Brest threatened once more to get on the scoresheet for a third time.

OL were once again vying to get back into the affair, holding the majority of possession and carving out a chance via Tanner Tessmann, whose shot would dribble wide of Bizot's post. Alex Lacazette did well to then get on the end of a perfect cross from Fofana, but Bizot parried brilliantly away to stop what looked like a certain goal. Brest moved up two places to 10th with the win, whilst OL spurned the opportunity to overtake LOSC in fourth position.

THE STAT: 150-up for Ajorque

Ludovic Ajorque celebrated his 150th match in Ligue 1 today with a goal and has now been involved in four goals in his last five matches in Ligue 1 McDonald's (3 goals, 1 assist), as many as in his previous 40 in Europe's top 5 leagues (4 goals with Mainz in Bundesliga then Brest).

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