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Sports Reporter

IT might just have been a low-key friendly match, against an amateur Swiss side, but Tino Kadewere’s four first half goals, in his first match for Olympique Lyon, have caught the eye at the French giants.

The match was played at the Stade Camille Fournier in Evian.

The Zimbabwe international tore apart the porous defence of Swiss lightweights, US Port Valais, as he scored four times in the opening half in a 12-0 romp for his team.

“I’m very happy with this first game,’’ said Kadewere. “It’s good to start that way. We have to keep going.”

And, his coach, Rudi Garcia, was also a happy man.

“I am satisfied with the seriousness of the players. They respected the opponent. We had to do our best,’’ he said.

“There is much satisfaction in the performance of Tino Kadewere and the return to action of Memphis and Jeff.

“They can be important assets. They did their utmost. They reassured us. There is no apprehension on their side. It’s good progress for them.

“We tried to compensate for the playing times with the last training game we had at the end of last week.

“We have found a balance in this area. The work was well done. All the midfielders played an hour. Those who did not play worked hard on the side. We are happy.

“We will be able to finish this week of training in the best possible way. It’s going to be a different set of players against Nice on Saturday. There will be a different team.”

Kadewere scored in the 15th, 22nd, 27th and 32nd minutes.

His four goals came in a 17-minute blitz.

“Deprived of an official match for nearly four months, Lyon have regained some of their sensations, some of their benchmarks,’’ the club said on their website.

“(On) Wednesday evening in Evian, they had an appointment with a Swiss club from the sixth division, US Port Valais, to continue to gain momentum more than three weeks since returning to training, and with less than a month until the Coupe de la Ligue final against PSG.

“Faced with a more modest opponent than usual, OL (Olympique Lyon) did not wait long to show their desire not to take this first friendly match lightly.”