Lyon president Jean Michel Aulas has jumped to the defence of Alexandre Lacazette.

A target for Liverpool and Arsenal, Lacazette was jeered by OL fans during defeat to Guingamp for admitting plans to leave this summer.

Aulas moved to intervene last night, stating: "Alexandre is a great player. I think there was a mistake. Perhaps he should not have discussed the future in the medium term on the day of the derby.

"The media chain that released this information did not help. Knowing Alexandre and his quality and personality, he had no intention of expressing that thing that day. We have to put things in perspective.

"When a club has a training centre like OL, as long as one is not in the 8 or 10 European teams, one has the obligation to let a player of such a high quality leave. It came out on the wrong day.

"I do not accept what was done in the stadium. There were other means of expression..."