- Kick-off
- Venue
- Parc des Princes, Paris
Paris Saint Germain win. Logged 23 Oct, 15:18 UTC, never edited.
What happened
Paris Saint Germain 2–0 Lyon. We said PSG win 2–1: Right result, wrong score, 10 points.
- Senny Mayulu put PSG ahead on 72', from Mika Godts's pass. Godts made it 2–0 on 84', set up by Quentin Ndjantou. We said Vitinha v Tanner Tessmann; neither scored, and both PSG goals came from players we did not name. We said PSG's midfield would have to make up for the missing forwards; PSG won without them, but needed until the 72nd minute to score.
- PSG had 68% of the ball, 17 shots to 8 and 10 on target to 5. What we got right: PSG won and scored twice. Where we were wrong: we expected Lyon to score once, and they scored none.
Before the match: our preview
In 30 seconds
- Five clubs are level on 14 points after seven games; Lyon are top on goal difference and PSG are second.
- PSG lost Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (knee ligament), Ousmane Dembélé and Marquinhos (both thigh) in the win over Barcelona on Tue 20 Oct.
- PSG are deep enough to beat the leaders without three of their best players.
The story
Luis Enrique's PSG beat Barcelona 4–2 at the Parc des Princes on Tue 20 Oct and paid for it. Ousmane Dembélé went off after 20 minutes, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Marquinhos just before the hour, and the club's medical update on Wed 21 Oct was grim: Kvaratskhelia has torn the cruciate ligament in his right knee and needs surgery, while Dembélé and Marquinhos are out for the coming weeks with thigh injuries. Nuno Mendes had already missed the Barcelona game.
It is a bad week to lose them. PSG have won seven in a row in all competitions and are still only second. Five clubs are level on 14 points after seven games, and Paulo Fonseca's Lyon are top on goal difference. Whoever wins on Mon 26 Oct moves three points clear of the other.
Lyon come in on less rest and after a heavy defeat. Fonseca sent a young side to Hoffenheim in the Europa League on Thu 22 Oct, with Corentin Tolisso and Moussa Niakhaté on the bench, and they lost 3–0; he said afterwards that a lack of aggression was their weakness. But Lyon won on their last visit to the Parc, 2–1 on Sun 19 Apr 2026, and that remains PSG's only defeat in the five meetings below.
This decides it: whether PSG's midfield can make up for the missing forwards. Against Barcelona it did. All four goals came after Dembélé had gone off, from Désiré Doué, Lucas Hernández, Vitinha and Fabián Ruiz.
Form
Five wins, and two goals or more in every one of them.
Three wins and two away defeats.
The games, with scores
| Paris Saint Germain | 20 Oct | v BarcelonaUCL | W 4–2 |
| 17 Oct | at StrasbourgL1 | W 3–1 | |
| 14 Oct | at Manchester CityUCL | W 4–2 | |
| 10 Oct | v Le MansL1 | W 3–1 | |
| 20 Sep | at MarseilleL1 | W 2–1 | |
| Lyon | 22 Oct | at 1899 HoffenheimUEL | L 0–3 |
| 18 Oct | v NiceL1 | W 2–1 | |
| 15 Oct | v Crystal PalaceUEL | W 3–2 | |
| 9 Oct | at LensL1 | L 1–2 | |
| 19 Sep | v RennesL1 | W 4–0 |
Latest first. Latest on the left. L1 = Ligue 1, UCL = Champions League, UEL = Europa League. OddsIntel match database, read 22 Oct 2026.
Team news
Checked Fri 23 Oct 09:45 UTC: psg.fr (medical update and match report after Barcelona) and ligue1.com (PSG); ol.fr (Fonseca before and after Hoffenheim, squad, report, Openda medical update) and ligue1.com (absentee list, disciplinary decisions of Wed 21 Oct) for Lyon. Reported = not yet confirmed by the club for this game. Line-ups: confirmed about an hour before kick-off; they go under Updates. We don't publish guessed XIs.
Šulc, with two goals in Lyon's last ten, is the absence that matters most for Lyon if the knee keeps him out. Corentin Tolisso was on the bench at Hoffenheim and came on for the last half-hour, so a rest rather than an injury. Both line-ups below are from Tue 20 Oct and Thu 22 Oct and neither will start again: PSG's has three injured players in it, and Lyon's was a rotated one.
Lyon 4-3-3 · at Hoffenheim, 22 Oct
- Greif
- KangoBacherMataKluivert
- BidstrupTessmann (key battle)Nartey
- BoudacheHimbertNakamura
- KvaratskheliaDembéléDoué
- Fabián RuizVitinha (key battle)João Neves
- HernándezPachoMarquinhosHakimi
- Safonov
PSG 4-3-3 · v Barcelona, 20 Oct
Who to watch
The duel to watch: Vitinha against Tanner Tessmann, the middle men of the two midfield threes. With Dembélé and Kvaratskhelia out, more of PSG's attack starts with Vitinha's passing. If Tessmann stays close to him, PSG have to find another way through; if Vitinha has time on the ball, Lyon's back four will be defending all evening.
PSG
Désiré Doué
Scored in the 38th minute against Barcelona; with Dembélé and Kvaratskhelia out, more of the goals fall to him.
- 3
- goals, PSG's last 10
PSG
Vitinha
Scored PSG's third against Barcelona and runs their midfield.
- 2
- goals, PSG's last 10
Lyon
Tanner Tessmann
Started at Hoffenheim and is the man between PSG's midfield and Lyon's defence.
- 1
- goals, Lyon's last 10
Goals in each side's last ten games, all competitions, where we hold the scorer. OddsIntel match database, read 22 Oct 2026.
Head-to-head
Our records hold seven meetings since 2023; here are the latest five. Lyon won the latest, at the Parc in April; PSG won the four before it.
All 5 meetings
Result for Paris Saint Germain. Five most recent of seven PSG v Lyon meetings in our records since 2023. OddsIntel match database, read 22 Oct 2026.
Numbers that matter
Goals scored, last ten: Paris Saint Germain 28, Lyon 17 (higher is better)
PSG scored three or more in four of their last five.
Goals conceded, last ten · fewer is better: Paris Saint Germain 14, Lyon 13 (lower is better)
Almost level: neither defence is the strong part of its team.
Clean sheets, last ten: Paris Saint Germain 1, Lyon 2 (higher is better)
PSG's only one was a 1–0 at Brest on Sun 13 Sep.
Last ten games each, all competitions. OddsIntel match database, read 22 Oct 2026.
Our call, explained
Our call: PSG win 2–1. Even without three regulars, PSG have the deeper squad and the fresher legs: they last played on Tue 20 Oct, Lyon in Germany on Thu 22 Oct. Vitinha and Fabián Ruiz both scored against Barcelona once Dembélé had gone, so we expect PSG to find two. We also expect Lyon to score, because they have scored in eight of their last ten.
Where this could go wrong. If PSG's back line without Marquinhos leaks goals as it did against Barcelona, who scored twice, Lyon have the players to repeat their April win at the Parc, or at least to hold PSG to a 1–1 draw. If Lyon's legs go after Thu 22 Oct, PSG have the attack to win by more than one, even with the forwards they have left.
Updates
26 Oct, 22:45 CET
Full time: Paris Saint Germain 2–0 Lyon (Mayulu 72', Godts 84'). Our 2–1 call: right result, wrong score. See What happened.
25 Oct, 13:00 CET
Kick-off moved: the Paris police prefecture banned the Sunday date, so the league moved the match to Mon 26 Oct at 20:30 CET (ligue1.com, 23 Oct). Our call is unchanged.
Next: nothing further; this match is finished.
Data note: results, scorers, the table and line-ups from our database, read 22 Oct 22:40 UTC, so the counts run to PSG's game against Barcelona on 20 Oct and Lyon's at Hoffenheim on 22 Oct. Each player's goal total is a floor, because a few goals in our records have no scorer attached. Team news, positions, the referee and match details from psg.fr, ol.fr and ligue1.com.
Our call was timestamped by an independent service before kick-off, Fri 23 Oct, 15:30 UTC.
How the timestamp works
Timestamped before kick-off by an independent service (DigiCert, RFC 3161), Fri 23 Oct, 15:30 UTC. The call file is the exact version that was timestamped. The file with our call and its timestamp token: call file · timestamp. Its fingerprint (sha256):
b05ab7b2ea3c640cf0e46b1153725c077fc457225f21fbee6821f6618b13d319
Our calls so far
- calls right
- 27/42
- home win every time
- 19/42