Olympique Lyonnais’ impressive win at the Parc des Princes tonight moved Paulo Fonseca’s men up to third in the table while a much-changed and off-colour Paris Saint-Germain remain only one point ahead of second-placed RC Lens, albeit with a game in hand.
The Match
Luis Enrique rotated his team after the team’s midweek victory against Liverpool – and for the first 20 minutes in particular it showed. Lyon dominated, with Afonso Moreira in particular a constant danger. His throughball, although slightly mishit, enabled Endrick to slip behind the defence to give Lyon a lead on six minutes.
PSG finally put together a good attacking move just after the 15 minute mark but Dominik Greif saved Lucas Beraldo’s shot. Greif then boxed the resulting corner high and long, Endrick won a battle with Vitinha for the dropping ball in the centre circle and volleyed it forward for Moreira to outsprint the defence and slot home. To make matters worse for PSG, Vitinha landed badly from that challenge and limped off later in the half.
Lyon then went into defensive mode but found it relatively easy to repel PSG’s attack.s A clumsy Ainsley Maitland-Niles challenge on Lucas Hernandez in the area did give Gonçalo Ramos a perfect chance to halve the lead just after the half-hour mark, but Grief saved his poor spot-kick.
The second half followed a similar pattern. PSG dominated possession – even more so once Ousmane Dembélé, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Kang-In Lee were sent on on the hour – but Moreira and Endrick continued to look dangerous on the break and PSG created few clear-cut chances, save for a fantastic Dembélé shot which came back off the bar.
Kvaratskhelia’s late cracker meant that PSG kept up their record of scoring in every home game since August 2023 but it came too late and ensures that some intrigue remains in the title race.
PSG Player Ratings
Matvey Safonov 6 – could do nothing about Endrick’s opener and little about Moreira’s second but kept out several other shots which would have put the game to bed far earlier.
Achraf Hakimi 3 – was easily beaten by Moreira for Lyon’s first, then rarely appeared in defence, leaving Zabarnyi overrun. Dis nothing of note going forward to mitigate his defensive shortcomings.
Illia Zabarnyi 4 – given the runaround by Moreira, particularly in the first half, but was forced to cover the right side of defence alone as Hakimi went AWOL.
Willian Pacho 5 – solid in defence but allowed Endrick to creep behind him for the opener.
Lucas Hernandez 5
Lucas Beraldo 5
Vitinha 6 – everything went through him while he was on the pitch but he was not at his incisive best and limped off late in the first half with an injury sustained in the lead-up to Lyon’s second goal.
Warren Zaïre-Emery 5
Senny Mayulu 4 – struggled to impose himself on the game, lost the ball cheaply on more than one occasion.
Désiré Doué 5 – mixed some jinky runs and searching crosses with poor losses of the ball, often after being muscled off the ball too easily. Replaced by Kvaratskhelia who looked more likely than anyone to bring PSG back into it but his goal game too late.
Bradley Barcola 6 – most of PSG’s threat came from his flank and he put in several searching crosses, on which his team-mates failed to capitalise.
Gonçalo Ramos 3 – totally failed his audition to show that he is more than a super-sub. Squandered a handful of half-chances, rarely got the better of Lyon’s defenders and missed a penalty.
Lyon Player Ratings
Dominik Greif 7 – superb again for Lyon – both in the air and on his line. Several good saves, particularly from Ramos’ penalty. His punch clear led to Lyon’s second. Robbed of a third straight clean sheet by Kvara’s late cracker.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles 4 – some good moments but struggled to contain Barcola and gave away the penalty.
Clinton Mata 5
Moussa Niakhaté 7 – Lyon’s best defender again, a calm and calming presence and also played a part in Lyon’s opener.
Ruben Kluivert 6 – a solid performance covering the left side of the defence and also made a couple fo forward breaks to relieve the pressure.
Abner Vinicius 6 – Superb volley saved by Safonov, good cover to prevent Mayulu having a clear header.
Orel Mangala 6
Tyler Morton 6
Khalid Merah 6 – like his midfield partners, worked himself into the ground supporting the defence but also looking to break forward when there was space. One excellent pass put Moreira through for a shooting chance.
Afonso Moreira 8 – Man of the match. Set up Lyon’s first, scored their second, terrorised the PSG defence for the first 20 minutes and was a brilliant outlet for the remainder of the match to give Lyon occasional relief and keep PSG honest.
Endrick 6 – what is becoming a trademark Endrick performance – scored a great goal, almost set up another with a great cross, wound PSG up by going to ground at every opportunity – and vanished as Lyon reverted to defence.
