Former Swindon Town defender Jake O’Brien has qualified for the Europa League following a dramatic final-day victory for his new club Lyon.

The defender who spent six months on loan at Swindon during the 2021/22 season will be playing European football next season after a 96th-minute goal from Alexandre Lacazette saw them leapfrog Lens into sixth place in Ligue 1.

The 23-year-old centre-back has had a meteoric rise since his spell at the County Ground, in which he was part of the side that made the League Two playoffs, earning promotion in Belgium during a loan spell with RWD Molenbeek, securing his move to France.

It has been quite some debut season at the Groupama Stadium for O’Brien, scoring four times and also earning a first senior call-up to the Republic of Ireland national team.

Heading into the final day of the season on Sunday, Lyon were level on points with Lens in sixth, but had a vastly inferior goal difference and would have to better their result to secure a Europa League spot for next season.

With Lens having already drawn with Montpellier and Lyon also level with Strasbourg, Lacazette fired home a penalty deep into stoppage time to spark mad scenes at the final whistle as they completed a fine return to form in the second half of the season, losing just three games since the turn of the year.

OL made a very slow start to the season and were bottom of the table back in December and it was O’Brien’s header in November that secured the side’s first win of the season against Rennes in November.

There is still a chance for an even better finish to the season for O’Brien this weekend as his Lyon side will face Kylian Mbappe and Paris Saint Germain in the final of the Coupe De France.