The genius of Elye Wahi was not enough for Montpellier – L’Équipe

It could have been the great story of the day, but in the end, Elye Wahi’s fantastic goal earned his team no points. Author of the equalizer on Saturday against OL in the second half (70th), when it was difficult to see how Montpellier, hitherto led and harmless, was going to be able to avoid a fourth defeat in a row, the young Hérault striker (19 years) thought he had done the necessary by deceiving Anthony Lopes with the manner. His acrobatic recovery, at the penalty spot, on a bell pass from Jordan Ferri, suddenly woke up the Mosson who was celebrating his hero. His fulgurance marked all the spirits. “I applauded him, recognized afterward Laurent Blanc, the Lyon coach, once also capable of flashes with the ball and remained in love with the beautiful gesture. What a kick to score a goal like that when playing football! It makes a half-chisel back, it’s beautiful. Kudos to him. “The MHSC coach, Romain Pitau, also welcomed the player’s sequence: “It’s a great action, really a gesture of a very high level attacker. It smiled on him but I would have preferred that we could hold the result to validate this goal. “He could have been expelled for having caused a scuffle Because despite the superlatives used to describe the stroke of genius of the international Espoirs, it was not enough. Montpellier lost again (1-2), and as in Toulouse (2-4, October 2), against Lille (1-3, September 4) and even during the successes against AC Ajaccio (2- 0, August 31) and in Brest (7-0, August 28), Wahi was ultimately not decisive on the result. Leaving the Stadium earlier this month, he conceded that his goal was “not important” in view of the defeat. On Saturday, the Hérault top scorer this season (6 goals) did not speak in the mixed zone. Frustrated. And not just by score. A quick look at his statistics (21 balls hit, 1 shot, 1 duel won) confirms the overall impression. Elye Wahi did not deliver a great performance. Too lonely in front, he struggled to exist. Before being replaced by Valère Germain (82nd), at 1-1 under an ovation, he could have been excluded for having caused a scuffle after the fault of Sinaly Diomandé on Stephy Mavididi, both then expelled (75th). His only satisfaction, on arrival, is perhaps to have surpassed the new Ballon d’Or France Football in terms of earliness among French players. By scoring his 19th goal in Ligue 1 before the age of 20, the striker did better than Karim Benzema. Only Kylian Mbappé had drawn more often than him as a youngster (41 goals).