Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. By Sports Reporter – ZIMBABWE international striker Tino Kadewere has expressed his appreciation to the Olympique Lyon supporters after his brace inspired his side to a dominant 5-0 derby win against rivals St-Etienne Sunday evening.
After rising from the bench to score another memorable double when the two sides faced each other in November, Kadewere was the hero again after scoring a goal in each half to take his season tally to nine goals.
Speaking to the club website after the game, the Zimbabwean striker dedicated Olympique Lyon’s massive win to the club’s supporters.
I am happy. We won for the supporters,” Kadewere told the club website.
“They were with us this (on Sunday), it was wonderful. The messages from the supporters give me a lot of confidence. It’s not over; there are a lot of games left. This derby was very important to us .”
Kadewere gave Lyon the lead on 16 minutes after the St-Etienne defenders fumbled a corner kick, allowing the Zimbabwean to fire his side ahead from close range.
Nine minutes before the half-time break, Marcelo doubled the visiting side’s advantage thanks to an assist from Leo Dubois.
In the 59th minute, Marcelo completed his double, heading a well-taken free-kick by Dubois past goalkeeper Jessy Moulin.
St. Etienne’s ambition of getting at least a draw faded into thin air after the African star found the net for the second time in the 68th minute, with Memphis Depay helping him with the final pass.
Denis Bouanga’s own goal eight minutes from full-time completed the rout as Claude Puel’s team suffered their 10th loss of the 2020-21 French top-flight campaign.
After putting up an outstanding shift, Kadewere – who now boasts of nine Ligue 1 goals in his maiden season at Lyon – was substituted for Algeria international Islam Slimani with five minutes left to play.
Prior to the match, Kadewere had received words of encouragement and praises from the Lyon legend and now Real Madrid superstar Kareem Banzema on Twitter.
“Unfortunately I don’t have a Twitter account but if I had seen it, I would have scored more goals,” Kadewere said with a laugh.
“Getting a message from such a big player and someone I look up to really gives motivation so I’m really happy that one of the strikers that made me sign for Lyon is following my progress.”
“That gives me confidence as well and I really wanna thank him for the belief and for the support,” he added.
