There was a breathless start to this contest, as Lacazette fired the hosts in front with a mere four minutes on the clock. The Lyon skipper provided a poacher’s finish when he slid home Clinton Mata’s cross with an outstretched right foot.
It looked like that lead had been cancelled out just three minutes later when Evann Guessand converted from Mohamed-Ali Cho's. However, the Ivorian’s effort was chalked out following a pitchside video review, as referee Bastien Dechepy penalised Pablo Rosario for a push on Nicolás Tagliafico in the build-up.
Nice did find an equaliser with a goal very similar to Lacazette’s opener. Cho was the provider for Sofiane Diop to provide his own sliding finish at the far post in the 22nd minute.
The breathless nature of this contest showed few signs of abating, as Lacazette’s header from Fofana’s cross was brilliantly kept out by Marcin Bułka.
The captain did strike again though to reach that aforementioned milestone, applying another excellent first-time finish in the box, this time from Said Benrahma’s delivery.
Pierre Sage’s side extended their advantage before half-time, and Jordan Veretout fired home his first Lyon goal with a sublime right-footed volley from the edge of the box.
Les Aiglons thought they may have been given a lifeline at the start of the second half when VAR called Dechepy over to the pitchside monitor, as Duje Caleta-Car grappled with Guessand in the box.
However, much to Franck Haise’s bemusement, no penalty was awarded. Tanguy Ndombele then came agonisingly close to halving the deficit when he made a sliding attempt of his own to meet a cross from the left flank, but mistimed his finish and Nicolas Tagliafico cleared the danger.
However, Les Gones struck again when Lacazette completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot. VAR played its part once again, as Dechepy was called to the pitchside monitor and determined that had Yaël Nandjou handled the ball inside the box. Lacazette stepped up and sent Bułka the wrong way, effectively ending this match as a contest.
It was a fine night’s work for Lyon and their mercurial marksman Lacazette, with only Wissam Ben Yedder (161) and Kylian Mbappe (191) scoring more Ligue 1 goals in the 21st century.
They move up to fifth in the table - one place above Nice - whose own eight-match unbeaten run in the league comes to an end, and follows another 4-1 defeat to Rangers in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Alexandre Lacazette (Olympique Lyonnais)
