🏏 Sat, 12 Sep 2026 20:45 CEST
Paris FC
vs
Olympique Lyonnais
3-4-2-1 vs 4-2-3-1
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Match Preview
- Third plays fourth in Round 4, and the two sides are almost impossible to separate on paper. Paris FC and Lyon both have seven points from three games, both are unbeaten with two wins and a draw, and both have scored six and conceded two for a goal difference of +4. A win would lift either side to 10 points, level with leaders Monaco and second-placed Rennes.
- Paris FC have picked up their points in three very different ways: a goalless draw away at Troyes on the opening weekend, a 3-0 dismantling of Nice at home, and a 3-2 win away to Marseille in Round 3. Two goals conceded in three matches is the foundation, with Kevin Trapp behind a back three of Hamari Traoré, Diego Coppola and Samir Chergui.
- Lyon are unbeaten as well. They opened with a 2-0 win at Toulouse, were pegged back to a 1-1 draw at home by Le Havre, then saw off pointless, bottom-placed Auxerre 3-1 in Round 3. That single dropped point is the only blemish on their record, and this is their first away trip since matchday one.
- Loïs Openda leads the line for Lyon, and his return to Ligue 1 is one of the summer's better stories. The Belgium international made his name at Lens and moved to Juventus via RB Leipzig, but managed only two goals in 34 games in Turin before coming back on a €3m loan with no purchase option. His pace in behind will be measured against the 192cm Diego Coppola and 27-year-old Samir Chergui.
- The central midfield contrast is striking. Paris FC pair the 167cm Maxime Lopez, a Marseille academy graduate with Serie A experience at Sassuolo, with 33-year-old Pierre Lees-Melou, named in the Ligue 1 team of the season in 2023-24 while at Brest. Lyon counter with Liverpool academy product Tyler Morton, 23, alongside Mads Bidstrup, who has passed through Brentford, RB Leipzig and Salzburg.
- Behind Openda, Lyon field a three with serious pedigree. Captain Corentin Tolisso, 32, won the 2018 World Cup with France and the Champions League with Bayern Munich. No.10 Pavel Šulc joined permanently after 47 goals in 167 appearances for Viktoria Plzeň, while 22-year-old Ernest Nuamah, a former Danish Superliga player of the year at Nordsjælland with four goals in 18 Ghana caps, attacks from the left.
- Paris FC's attacking trio carries real threat. Lassine Sinayoko, the 186cm Mali international who came through Auxerre's academy, leads the line at 26. Ilan Kebbal, the 169cm left-footed No.10, supplied 11 assists in Ligue 2 in 2023-24 and remains the creative hub, while 23-year-old Pablo Pagis, two-footed and schooled at Rennes before developing at Lorient, takes the other support role.
- The goalkeeping duel is a good one. Paris FC have 36-year-old Kevin Trapp, the former Germany international who spent four seasons at Paris Saint-Germain and won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt. Lyon answer with the 197cm Slovakia international Dominik Greif, 29, who made over 100 appearances for Slovan Bratislava before a spell in La Liga with Mallorca.
- Both benches offer genuine changes of tempo. Paris FC can call on Jonathan Ikoné, a Ligue 1 title winner with Lille and a former France international, plus Nigeria's Moses Simon, who played more than 200 games for Nantes. Lyon keep back 2022 World Cup winner Nicolás Tagliafico at left-back, forward Keito Nakamura, and 20-year-old Noah Nartey, who scored on his Ligue 1 debut.